PostIt Thief
by bakaxusagi
Summary: AU. Laven. What do Post-It notes have to do with being robbed? Nothing, right? Wrong. Our favorite redhead learns that the hard way as he happens to be the victim of one very unique thief. "What the hell?" / WARNING: currently on semi-hiatus (incredibly slow updates if any)
1. What the hell?

_A/N: _Hey guys! Here it is, the promised Laven AU - _"Post-It Thief"_ or _PIT_, for short! This must be the strangest plot I've ever come up with. Let me hear what you think about the idea (though I'll continue this even if you say that it sucks xD)!

_Warning:_ boyxboy in later chapters! Don't like, don't read!  
><em>Disclaimer:<em> I wish D. Gray-man was mine, but unfortunately it isn't. ._.

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><p><strong><span>Post-It Thief<span>**

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 1 – What the hell?<em>**

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><p>A sigh escaped my lips as I let my bag fall to the floor next to the door of my apartment and shrugged off my coat. I kicked the door shut without looking and made my way to the living room where the first thing I did was turn on the stereo. With my favorite music filling out the relatively small space I call my home, I let myself flop down on the couch, enjoying the feeling of sinking into the soft cushions.<p>

I took my time to relax, after all it wasn't as if I had anything planned for the evening. Work today had been exhausting, there had been a few rude customers whose ignorant demands really tried my patience. To top it off, the damn old panda had made me reorganize all the books in the store because our customers were obviously too dumb to put the books back where they belong after they've finished looking at them.

I sighed again, though this time it was in annoyance. I should really stop thinking about this.

My stomach growled, reminding me that the last time I ate something was around lunch break, so I stood up, briefly regretting to have to part with the comfortable cushions so soon.

I walked over to the kitchen and opened the door of my fridge. My face fell as I noticed that there wasn't much food left, safe for a few yoghurts and other random stuff that I didn't feel like eating. There was also leftover lasagna from the previous evening, but the thought of eating lasagna again didn't sound all that appealing at the moment.

I shrugged even though there was no one there to see it, slammed the door of the fridge shut again and left the kitchen. I stared at my phone. _Take-out? Nah..._

Back in the living room, I turned off the stereo, filling the room with silence again. I didn't like it when the room was silent, it reminded me that I lived here alone; but right now that didn't matter, for I was going to go out anyway.

Grabbing my jacket that had fallen to the floor on top of my bag earlier and pulling it on, I decided that I didn't need to take my bag with me, so I took my wallet out of it and pocketed it. My keys were already in the other pocket of my warm winter coat, so I pulled them out and shut the door behind me before locking it up.

As I opened the main door to the apartment building I lived in, cold winter air greeted me. I shuddered despite my warm coat and buried my hands in my pockets. I could feel the fabric of my gloves in there, but I was too lazy to pull them on right now.

I turned right and started walking towards the nearest subway station, hiding my nose behind my favorite, bright orange scarf to protect at least part of my face from the freezing wind. I loved that scarf, it was like my trademark. During winter, you never see me without it, except for when I sleep.

Luckily the next subway station was only a two minute walk from my apartment building, so before I knew it, I was underground and waiting for the next subway to arrive. It didn't take long, of course, just a few minutes. I took the subway to the next station, knowing that there's a supermarket near its exit.

As I reached the top of the stairs that lead me away from the subway station, I could already see the flashing neon lights of the supermarket. Another wave of cold air hit me, so I quickened my pace to reach the building faster, dodging pedestrians on my way.

I entered the supermarket and was welcomed by warm air that caused me to loosen my scarf and smile slightly. I waved at the cashier as I passed her on my way to the shelves, receiving a smile in return. I go to this store a lot, so the woman remembers me by now.

I browsed the shelves, looking for something that I felt like eating. I decided to be lazy this time and took a few different types of convenience food with me. I decided to try out something new, so I also didn't hesitate to pick some Asian convenience food as well, taking with me what looked the most interesting.

I grabbed some fruit, too – even though I didn't feel like eating it at the moment, I didn't want to eat completely unhealthy.

The cashier looked up as I neared the counter, placing my stuff on the surface in front of her. She smiled at me again and asked, "How's it going?"

I absentmindedly watched her work and replied, "Oh, same old, same old. Gramps makes me do a huge amount of work, and we had some really bratty customers today. 'Why don't you have that book in stock? I need it _right. Now! _You hear me? Don't waste my time, go and see to it immediately!'"

As I said this, I imitated the shrill voice of an angered woman – quite well if I may add –, causing the cashier to laugh.

"Must've been tiring," she said.

"You bet."

I paid for my stuff and began putting it into a plastic bag that she handed me, when she looked past me through one of the store's glass walls and said, "Really, those homeless people are scaring me. Always lurking around the store... I just wish this building didn't have glass walls everywhere."

I didn't need to turn around to know what she meant. Homeless people weren't unusual for a city like this one; I found it sad that there were people living on the street, especially in this cold weather, when others lived in prosperity without a care in the world... but there was nothing I could do about it, or was there?

It didn't come as a surprise to me that homeless people stayed near supermarkets and the like; The possibility of someone pitying them and giving them food was a tad bit higher here than somewhere else, after all.

"There's no helping it," I replied, shrugging. "I don't think they mean any harm, though. They're just hungry."

She sighed. "I know..."

By now, I had finished packing my stuff in my plastic bag, so I said good bye to her and left the store, grinning at the reflection of the tall, slender redhead with the eye-patch that was me before it disappeared when the automatic doors opened.

The cold wind that greeted me when I exited the store had me shivering instantly. In front of me, a sea of people rushed past; It had gotten dark by now and there were a lot more people around than when I entered the store. On top of it, the unpleasant weather caused them to be in more of a hurry than usual.

Within seconds, my hands were freezing, but this time I could not bury both of them in my pockets. The handles of my plastic bag were digging a little painfully into my cold hand, so before I tried to fight my way through the crowd, I stopped about five steps from the supermarket's door, not too close to where most of the people were rushing about. I set the bag down on the sidewalk next to my feet and fished my gloves out of my pocket, pulling them on.

Suddenly, a body crashed into mine, the impact throwing me back a step.

I looked up to see a hunched old man, a few strands of grayish hair visible under the big hood of his old, dark gray hoodie. I frowned, not happy about being bumped into, and wondered if this would be another of those people who collide with you and don't even say sorry for it. I couldn't see his face though, for it was overshadowed by his hood and it was dark, anyway.

"I'm sorry, sir" he apologized to me, his raspy voice sounding strange, somehow.

Surprised at the unexpected sincerity in his voice, I blinked and said, "No problem."

Before I could say anything else, though, he was gone, disappeared in the midst of the crowd. I shrugged and finished pulling on my gloves, for he had interrupted me in doing so when he collided with me. I could already feel my hands warming up again now that they were surrounded by black fabric instead of cold wind.

Without looking, I reached down to grab my plastic bag, but missed. Frowning, I looked down at the part of sidewalk next to my feet and found – nothing.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly. I turned around, looking in every direction, but no plastic bag in sight.

"Damn it!" a curse escaped my lips. _It's gone! It must've been that old man just now. Why didn't I pay more attention? _

My gaze fell on a yellow square that lay on the ground about a feet away from me. Frowning even more, I bent down to take a closer look. A Post-It? It didn't look like it belonged here; It would've been already stepped on if it had been lying there for long.

I picked it up to see if something was written on it; Maybe a previous customer had dropped his shopping list, or something.

There was indeed something written on it, but it wasn't at all what I had expected. My only visible eye widened.

_'Thank you for the food! I'm sorry for stealing it.'_

"What the hell?"

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><p><em>.Chapter 1 FIN.<em>

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><p><em>AN: _So? How was it? Do you find the idea interesting? I bet you all know who that thief is - or at least, you think you do. But do you really? *grins evilly* Who knows?


	2. Pondering

_A/N: _Hey guys! Welcome to Chapter 2 of _PIT_! School is burying me under a huge workload, but I'm doing my best to not let you wait for too long. Following updates may take a little longer than this one, though, and I apologize in advance. Anyway, on with the chapter! Hope you enjoy!

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><p><strong><em> Chapter 2 – Pondering<em>**

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><p>Setting the plastic bag down next to me as I sat down on one of the very few free seats – though keeping a hand wrapped around the bag's handles this time – I heaved a sigh while the vibrations of the subway moving on the rails made my body shake slightly.<p>

I had gone straight back into the supermarket after the incident, laughing awkwardly as I told the cashier what had happened. She was very sympathetic, but said that as much as she wanted to, she couldn't give me a discount. Luckily I had had enough money with me, otherwise I would've been forced to eat the rest of my lasagna even though I didn't want to.

I huffed in annoyance. Now I'd have to see how to get by money-wise for the rest of the month, and the worst thing was that it was my fault. How the hell did I manage to make such a stupid mistake? Seriously...

The subway slowed down, telling me that it was time to get out. I was just fighting my way through the crowd when I felt my mobile phone vibrate in my pocket. I answered it only to hear a question instead of a greeting. A grin crept up my face. _Typical._

"Lavi? Where are you?"

"What? Don't I get a greeting, Lena-lady?" I half whined. I could practically see her rolling her eyes at me.

"No, you don't." I could hear that she was grinning. "Now, why am I standing in front of your door instead of already sitting on your couch by now?"

"I went shopping... twice."

"Twice? What do you mean? Did you forget something?"  
>"Nah, some old man stole my bag, so I had to buy the stuff again." I said that as if it happened to me every day.<p>

"You were robbed?"

"Yup." By now the apartment building I lived in was already in sight.

"You sound strange. What's bothering you? I mean, except the obvious, being robbed and all." Lenalee said.

I was only mildly impressed that she could read my voice that well; She was my best friend, after all.  
>"I'm almost there, I'll explain then." I said and hung up on her shortly after.<p>

Two minutes later I arrived at the door of my apartment. A Chinese girl with long, black hair worn in two pigtails was leaning against it, waiting. She held a plastic bag in her hands.

She stepped aside wordlessly when I approached her, smiling at me as a greeting, and waited for me to unlock the door before entering my apartment first, hitting light switches as she went.

I closed the door and took off my gloves and coat before following her to my small kitchen. Lenalee had placed her plastic bag on the table, so I put mine on the counter next to the fridge and started unpacking it and putting the content away.

"I brought dinner from upstairs," she said as soon as she had made herself comfortable in one of the two chairs, "though it's almost cold by now."

"Microwave?" was all I said, for I wasn't done with my task yet.

"Sure." was her simple reply as she stood up again and took the food out of her bag, placing it in my old, worn-out microwave and setting the timer to about two minutes. The microwave immediately began buzzing loudly, but Lenalee turned on the radio to drown out the sound.

Swinging her hips to the beat of an upbeat pop song, she practically danced around the kitchen while she gathered plates, cutlery and stuff and neatly placed it on the tiny table.

Her good mood was contagious, so before I knew it she wasn't the only one swinging her hips. The two of us danced until the song ended, all the while laughing our ass off at how stupid we were looking while doing so. The next song was much slower, though, so we stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do, before a ping sound from the microwave indicated that our food was done.

Lenalee sat down again while I grabbed a nearby towel that I normally used to dry the dishes and wrapped it around my hand. I then pulled out the box Lenalee had put in the microwave before and placed it on the table, sitting down opposite of my best friend.

"Mmmmh, smells good!" I exclaimed happily. "You know how much I love your cooking!"

"Yeah, I know," she said, smiling fondly, "I felt like cooking today, but my brother wasn't hungry, so I thought I'd share it with you instead."

"Yay! Thank you! You've saved me from eating leftovers once again!" I exclaimed, grinning.

"You're welcome. Now eat before it gets cold again!"

I gladly did as I was told, and we ate in silence, listening to the radio in the meantime.

As soon as our plates were emptied, we put them in the dishwasher and made our way to the living room.

For the second time that day, I let myself flop down onto my comfy sofa, stretching before sinking back into the cushions. Lenalee sat down next to me and sighed as she let her body relax.

It didn't take long for her to start questioning.

"So? Tell me about what happened."

"Ahh," I sighed, "It was my fault. When I got out of the supermarket, I set down my bag to have my hands free – it was cold so I wanted to pull on my gloves – and some old man crashed into me. He apologized, but not the way you usually apologize, it sounded as if he really meant it.. I remember that I was surprised, but then he was gone, and I couldn't find my bag anymore."

"That sucks," she commented, "did you see him well enough to be able to describe him?"

"Nah, it was too dark for that. Only saw that he was wearing a dark gray hoodie, but I didn't even get a good look at his face cause he had his hood up."

"How did you know that it was an old man, then?"

"Well, 'cause of his posture for one. I also think I saw a few strands of gray hair poking out from under the hood."

"I see. So you can't go to the police about it, huh?"

"Nope, they wouldn't care anyway. You know how it works... just another guy who was robbed by a hobo... too much of a hassle for them. Besides, it was my own stupidity that enabled him to steal my bag."

"Well, yeah, sorta.." she sweatdropped.

We sat in silence for a while, listening to the faint sound of music coming from the radio in the kitchen. Then I saw Lenalee raise an eyebrow – obviously she had just remembered something.

"There's something else, isn't it?"

"Huh?" I said before my brain caught up with my mouth and I answered her properly, "Oh, yeah. He left a note. The thief, I mean."

"He what?"

"He left a note! Post-It note, to be precise." I repeated. Seeing the disbelief in her eyes, I raised my hand to stop her from saying anything and told her, "Wait a sec. I stuffed it into my coat's pocket."

With that I stood up from the sofa and crossed the distance to where I had thrown my coat on the floor in a few long strides. Seconds later I returned to the living room, jumping over the sofa's backrest and landing next to Lenalee, bouncing up again slightly as I did so. She shot me a look when my impact on the sofa made her bounce up and down as well, but I didn't comment on it, showing her the square little piece of yellow paper that I had picked up earlier that day instead.

She stared at it for a second, taking in its slightly crumbled and dirty state, then took it out of my hands to study what was written on it.

"_'__Thank you for the food! I'm sorry for stealing it.'_?" she read aloud.

"Believe me now?"

"How could I not?" she raised an eyebrow, "I've never heard of a thief who leaves an apology behind when he steals something..."

Both of us frowned. "I know," I said, "And his apology when he collided with me sounded sincere, too. I don't know what to make of this guy..."

"That's really strange..." She was quiet for a few moments, but then she said, "But I suppose you shouldn't think about it too much. It's not as if you'll see him again or anything; this city is not that small, so meeting him again is highly unlikely, anyway. No use thinking about it, right?"

"Right" I said, not sounding convinced. This was far too unusual to just ignore.

Lenalee opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden crash coming from the other side of my front door. It was followed by loud pounding on said door in combination with muffled wails that sounded suspiciously like "Leeeenaaaaleeeeeeeeeeee~!"

We looked at each other and simultaneously said "Komui."

It wasn't a question, but a statement. There was no person other than her brother who could make such a ruckus for nothing. Lenalee sighed, handed the Post-It back to me and stood up.

"I guess that means I have to go. See you tomorrow, okay?"  
>"Sure thing, Lena-lady!" I nodded and flashed her a grin.<p>

She opened the front door, the wails intensifying in volume for a second, before my door slammed shut. Now alone, I glanced at the piece of paper in my hand and heaved a sigh at the thought of probably having to ask the old panda for more money soon. I was definitely going to get a kick in the head for getting my stuff stolen.

I went to my bedroom, stopping by at the kitchen where I turned off the radio and hit the light switch as I left, and changed. After a short trip to the bathroom, I let myself fall onto the bed, setting the alarm for the next day with one hand and turning off my bedside lamp after I was done.

Sleep didn't come easily that night – my brain didn't seem to feel like shutting up, being too preoccupied with solving the mystery of the homeless old man that had stolen my food.

I sighed for the umpteenth time that day and turned the light back on, squinting and feeling around for the note that I had previously placed on my bedside table. I can't remember how long I stared at the neat, slightly curved handwriting before I fell asleep with the light still on.

'Thank you' _and_ 'I'm sorry'_, huh? What a strange old man._

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><p><em>. Chapter 2 FIN .<em>

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><p><em>AN:_ Thanks for reading! I'm sorry that this chapter didn't have a lot of action - since the ff is going to be a long one, I'm taking it slow. No use rushing things, right?


	3. Easy Target

_A/N: _Hey guys! I somehow managed to squeeze in some time to continue writing regardless of the tons of school work that were and still are waiting for me... So I can proudly present to you chapter 3 of _PIT_! Hope you enjoy :3 Following updates might be slower, though... but I'm trying my best!

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><p><strong><em> Chapter 3 – Easy Target<em>**

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><p>"Yo, Lenalee!" I greeted as soon as I heard her pick up the phone.<p>

"Hey. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I need to go shopping again. Can I borrow your bike?"

"Sure, but why don't you use yours?"

"Mine's practically falling apart. Besides, yours has a bike basket on the carrier."

"Mmh, 'kay. I'll throw the key down the staircase, alright?"

"Sure. See you later, Lena-lady."

"Yup. Don't let yourself be robbed again!" she laughed and hung up on me.

I pocketed my phone, threw on my scarf and coat and left my apartment, locking the door. Just as I turned around, I heard the sound of keys landing on the stone floor and sliding a few meters before hitting the wall next to my door. I bent down and picked them up, then waved at the smiling girl that stood at the railing one level above me. Her smile broadened and she turned around, making her way back to the door of her and her brother's own apartment.

I hurried down the staircase and reached the entrance door in no time, but I made a stop at the bicycle storage room to get Lenalee's bike before I left the building. Luckily it had gotten a bit warmer by now – Spring was near. It wasn't warm enough to not wear a scarf and gloves yet though, but that was to be expected.

I got on the bike and headed out for the supermarket. I was glad that it wasn't raining, otherwise it wouldn't have been pleasant to ride the bike to the store, even if it was just one subway station away from where I lived.

I was trying to save every bit of money that I had right now, for the old panda hadn't just kicked me in the head when I told him about being robbed, he had also told me that it would teach me a lesson to be more careful. In other words, he didn't give me any money, so I'd have to see how to get by with what was left of this month's salary. Since the weather was nice, I thought I could start with riding the bike instead of taking the subway.

Not that riding a girly bike like Lenalee's was on the top of my list of things I enjoy doing the most, but there was no helping it; My bike was on the verge of collapsing under my weight, and I'm anything but fat. I didn't feel like landing on my butt on the middle of the street for no reason; Plus the bike basket was a nice addition.

During the ten-minute trip I thought about what to buy this time. In my mind I made a list of things I needed and added the stuff that I felt like eating in the next few days. Some of the Asian food I had bought the last time I went there had been really tasty, so I made a mental note to buy more of it today.

When I was about to turn into the street where the supermarket was on, I slowed down and got off the bike, continuing the rest of the way on foot. The store was located in a pedestrian zone, after all.

Shortly after, I had walked my bike to the front of the supermarket, where I looked around for nearby bicycle racks. I found some to the right of the store, so I left Lenalee's bike there, locking it up to one of the racks. I fumbled around a bit when I did so – it was getting dark already and the light of the setting sun made it difficult to see, especially with the shadow the surrounding buildings cast on everything.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some figures sitting in the shadows, leaning against the store's walls and looking forlorn. The homeless.

I sighed before I entered the store, grinning at the cashier as a greeting. I collected the stuff I wanted to buy and paid for it at the counter, packing it in another plastic bag that I casually tossed across my shoulder as I turned to leave.

Outside, I walked over to where I had left Lenalee's bike and unlocked it, placing the bag into the bike basket on the carrier before rounding the bike and grabbing its handles. I walked the bike out of the pedestrian zone and then got on, already looking forward to my warm apartment and dinner.

It took me only slightly over five minutes to reach the apartment building I lived in. I got off the bike, stretched my muscles and turned to grab the plastic bag before going in.

The bike basket was empty.

My eye widened, my face fell and I facepalmed. There were no words to describe how completely and utterly stupid I felt. I massaged the bridge of my nose with my fingers and pulled my mobile phone out of my pocket. Flipping it open, I hit a few buttons and raised it to my ear.

"Lavi? What's wrong?" She must've seen my caller ID.

"It happened again." I said in a monotone voice.

"You mean you were robbed _again_?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yup."

"Very funny, Lavi. As if that would happen to you twice in this short period of time."

"Lenaleee~," I whined, "You're so cruel! I'm serious! I put the bag into the bike basket and now it's gone!"

"Eh? Honestly?"

"Yes.." I sighed, and I heard her sigh, too.

"Wait. Was there a Post-It note again?"

I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't checked yet.

"Wait a sec...," I told her and took a closer look, squinting as I tried to see something in the semi-dark, "What the – there _is_! Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Seriously? What does it say?" I could hear the sheer curiosity in Lenalee's voice.

I picked up the note, read it and made an inarticulate noise of annoyance.

"What?" she questioned, impatient.

I sighed and read aloud, "_'Thank you for the food. I'm sorry for stealing it.' _That guy should really think of something new." Then I whined, "Man, Lenalee! Why me? What did I do to that geezer?"

Hearing her laugh did hurt my pride a little. "Maybe you're just an easy target."

"Yaaaay..." my voice oozed with sarcasm.

"Wanna come upstairs and eat with us tonight? Since you haven't really bought anything to eat for yourself and all..." I could hear that she was grinning and I wasn't amused.

"You know, you could really feel more sympathy for me." I told her.

She ignored my comment and simply said, "Now, are you coming over or not?"

I chuckled darkly. "Sure, I'll just find someone to give your stylish bike to first."

"Hey! Are you implying that it doesn't look awesome?"  
>I ignored her and acted as if I was talking to someone nearby. "Hey, you there! Are you interested in this pretty black bike with a red butterfly pattern? It's as good as new and the bike basket is included! … Yeah, you'd like to buy it? ….. The price? Oh, no worries, I'll give it to you for free!"<p>

I didn't mind the few passersby that were shooting me strange looks for I was busy holding in my laughter while listening to Lenalee's ramblings.

"Wha- Lavi? What are you – stop it! Lavi? Lavi! Damn it, don't ignore me! Lavi! Lavi! Lav-" I hung up on her and burst out laughing. She was so gullible sometimes.

I was still laughing, bent down with a hand pressed against my stomach, when the front door of the apartment building burst open to reveal an out-of-breath Lenalee. She took in the scene in front of her – me laughing my ass off with no one around and her bike standing next to me – and growled in annoyance.

"Lavi..."

I looked at the pissed of girl in front of me in an attempt to calm down, but exploded into laughter again immediately.

As a 'reward', she hit me on the head – _hard_ – and pulled me and the bike through the door, kicking it shut behind us.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

That night, I once again lay awake in bed, thinking about the day's events. I had blocked out how I thought about being robbed again – and by the same person at that – during the meal with Lenalee and her brother Komui, but now that I allowed myself to think about it, I noticed that I was seriously pissed.

I was lying on my back, staring at the two Post-It notes in my hand. Both were written in the same handwriting, so there was no mistaking it – I was robbed twice by the same person in the last two weeks. Somebody up there must really hate me. Was I really that easy a target?

I sweatdropped. I probably was.

But seriously, how much of a coincidence was it that the Post-It thief – as I was beginning to call him in my mind – targeted me more than once? Even though it was strange to admit it, this guy seemed like a nice person. I didn't think he would steal from one person more than once in such a short period of time without a reason...

_Pft, a nice thief._ I snorted. _Yeah right. _

Maybe it was really just because I was an easy target. Or he just wasn't as nice as I thought. Perhaps he had already forgotten me? Nah, nobody forgets my awesome looks that fast.

I sighed deeply. This was really annoying me... but there wasn't much I could do about it.

I was just about to place the Post-Its back onto my bedside table when I caught a glimpse of black handwriting that I had missed before. I now noticed that my thumb had been covering it and moved it aside.

_'Oh, and by the way – nice bike.'_

I didn't know if I should laugh or growl in annoyance. Was he _mocking _me?

_Why, you little... Okay, _now_ I'm angry. It's settled – tomorrow I'm going to find that guy and confront him, no matter how long it takes!_

And with that thought in mind and a determined expression on my face, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

_I'll definitely find you._

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><p><em>. Chapter 3 FIN . <em>

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><p><em>AN:_ Thanks for reading! Reviews are - as always - much appreciated! I am now going to continue ignoring the mountain of homework that's piling up next to me... see you all next chapter, I hope! :)


	4. Discovery

_A/N: _Hey guys! I'm sorry for the wait, but now that it's the weekend again and I don't have school on Monday, I finally have time to continue writing on this fic :3 I'm uploading this a little earlier than I thought I would (but I don't feel like explaining why I thought that the upload would take a few more days, so yeah xD), but I suppose you all don't mind, or do you? xD

Enjoy!

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><p><strong><em> Chapter 4 – Discovery<em>**

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><p>The fading sunlight colored my surroundings in soft tones of red and orange as I turned into the street my usual supermarket was on. I liked this time of the day, but I had other things on my mind than marveling at the scenery. I wanted to find that old geezer, but I didn't want to search for him at random. The whole day during work I had been distracted, thinking about where I could begin my search, which had earned me a few hits and kicks from the old panda. I winced as I remembered it and rubbed the newly formed bruise on the back of my head. Damn panda.<p>

Sadly, the only thing that I could come up with was that people say the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime sooner or later, so I didn't have a better idea than to start searching for the Post-It thief near the store. It wasn't much, that I knew, but I didn't want to ignore the matter just because I didn't know how to find him. I needed to buy the stuff I 'lost' yesterday again, anyway. Sigh. If this goes on, soon _I_ will be the one that's homeless.

I stopped close to the store and took in my surroundings, looking for anyone that resembled my thief. I didn't notice anyone, though, so I walked over to the bicycle racks where I had locked up Lenalee's bike yesterday, in hopes of seeing my thief somewhere in the shadows cast by the surrounding buildings. I snorted, wondering since when I had a personal thief.

It didn't seem as if he was one of the figures lurking in the shadows either, so I decided to lean on the store's wall and wait a while. I didn't want to buy my stuff just yet, for I didn't want it to be stolen _again _just because of my carelessness and stupidity.

I waited and waited, watching the passersby hurrying past in front of me partly because of boredom and partly because I was trying to spot the Post-It thief amongst the crowd. I grew impatient fast, but I was determined to not give up that early. But it was cold and my position wasn't the most comfortable one either. Plus I wasn't the sort of person that could stand still for a long while.

After an hour or so of waiting, I sighed and gave up. Waiting really wasn't my thing. I wished I would've found him, but there was no helping it. I'd come back to this store soon, anyway, so I could still hope to spot him in the near future. Of course I was annoyed that he didn't show up and I would've loved to vent my anger on that geezer that had had the nerve to rob me twice and mock me on top of it, but I didn't feel like standing in the cold for much longer.

I shrugged to myself. Maybe next week... I got going and turned to go back the way I came. I had passed about two or three buildings when I remembered that I needed to buy food first, so I mentally facepalmed and turned on my heel. I fought my way through the crowd, feeling a little like a fish trying to go against the tide, until I reached the store again.

I was just about to go in when something out of the corner of my eye caught my interest. I quickly turned my head in that direction, and there he was – the Post-It thief.

I froze and stared at him. It had to be him – he was wearing the same dark gray hoodie as the last time I saw him, and the hood was again pulled up to hide his face. He seemed to be on his way towards the bicycle racks, but he turned his head and looked around constantly, as if he was searching for something – or someone.

I was just contemplating if he felt someone's – namely my – eyes on him when he faced me (at least I think he was looking at me, I couldn't really tell with him having his hood up and all) and froze. It took him all but two seconds of staring at me before he bolted away from me.

Without thinking, I started to chase him, even more determined to make him talk to me now that he was this close.

Within seconds, he was swallowed by the crowd, but he didn't manage to hide from my view completely. I was now glad that Lenalee had successfully forced me to go for a run with her regularly; The training came in handy now.

I growled under my breath as it dawned on me that the thief had a huge advantage – the crowd. I wasn't used to dodging passersby as I ran, but as a thief he must've ran away in such an environment quite often. I found myself moving forward much more slowly than he did.

The Post-It thief didn't seem to be aware of his advantage, though, for he made a big mistake seconds later – he turned into a narrow alleyway, away from the crowd.

Encouraged because of this development, I fought myself a way through the crowd and then sped up, following the thief into the alleyway only seconds after him.

My steps echoed loudly, the sound bouncing off the walls beside me, as did the sound of my breathing. A few meters in front of me, I could see the old man running. I frowned as I noticed that he didn't have a hunched back anymore, which in combination with his running made him appear more athletic than old and fragile. I concluded that he probably acted fragile so I wouldn't suspect him of stealing my bag before he was gone and discarded the thought, focusing on increasing my running speed instead.

I could see the gap between us decrease slowly but steadily and grinned. I'd definitely get him. I struggled to get closer to the thief and reached out with my right hand. To my surprise, I actually managed to get hold of his left upper arm.

I tightened my grip and slowed down, which forced the thief to spin around because of his momentum, his hood sliding from his head in the process.

What I saw left me lost for words.

I stared into the youthful face of a boy that I didn't believe to be a day over sixteen. His white hair was cut to chin length and framed his face, the bright color enhancing his big, light gray orbs. His frightened eyes bored into mine. They were opened wide in surprise and expressing so many different emotions at once that I didn't know how to respond. He seemed to notice my confusion, and before I could think more about what I was seeing, he had yanked his arm away from my grip and broke into a run, pulling up his hood again as he went.

"H-hey! Wait up!" I yelled after him as soon as I had snapped out of my daze, but he didn't stop. I halfheartedly started running after him even though he was already too far away, turned a corner and found myself on another crowded street again, the kid being no where in sight.

I skidded to a halt and stared at the passersby in front of me, not really seeing them for my mind was preoccupied with what I had seen just now. The anger I had felt before had vanished completely at the sight of the boy's honest, expressive eyes. After a few minutes of simply standing there, stunned by what I had seen, I started walking back to my apartment in a daze.

As I neared the door of the apartment building, I pulled out my phone and dialed Lenalee's number. For some reason I felt as if I was drained of all my energy.

"Hello?"

I sighed and muttered, "Can you come over right now?"

"Eh? Uh, sure, I'll come right now. Are you okay?"

Another sigh. "I'll tell you in a minute." Before she could reply, I had already hung up on her.

Lenalee was already waiting in front of my door when I reached the top of the stairs. I nodded to her as a greeting and saw a frown appear on her face. She didn't say anything until we were both sitting on my comfortable sofa, though.

I had let myself fall onto the sofa and pressed a hand against my forehead as if I felt a headache coming on. I sighed.

Lenalee raised an eyebrow and was about to speak up, but I beat her to it.

"I saw the thief today."

"You found him?"

"Yup. Chased after him when he ran away."

"What happened?"

"Thanks to your training, I guess," I began, grinning halfheartedly, "I managed to grab a hold of his arm and spin him around."

My best friend just looked at me, waiting for me to continue with her eyebrows raised and her big eyes full of curiosity.

"Turns out he's not an old geezer."

"He's not? How old is he, then?"

"I'd say he's not older than sixteen."

"Only sixteen? The poor boy... but wait, didn't you say he had gray hair?"

"It's white, actually. I think. I don't know why, it's not like I could ask him about it, you know?"

She was silent for a while, but then she said, "So.. and now you're depressed because...?"

"I'm not depressed! I'm just.. I don't know. You should've seen his eyes."

I just couldn't stop thinking about his eyes. Their depth had literally left me speechless. This was actually the first time that I wholeheartedly wanted to agree to the phrase '_Eyes are the window to the soul._'. If what I saw in these gray orbs was true, and I was quite sure that it was for I didn't believe that the emotions swirling in his eyes had been fake, the little guy didn't _want _to steal, he just didn't have much of a choice. I couldn't help but wonder what a kid like him must've gone through to be homeless at his age.

"His eyes? What about them?"

The unspoken apology and the sadness in his gaze had told me enough. I was sure that he wasn't a bad person, and my anger was long gone, having vanished at the sight of the boy that obviously wasn't new to life on the streets but still held an innocence you didn't even find that often in normal teenagers these days.

"... uh, Lavi? Are you listening to me?"

His eyes had had a soft edge to them, and I wondered how his gaze could hold this much warmth considering his circumstances. I could already tell that I wouldn't be able to sleep much tonight. There were just so many things to think about. For some reason, I just couldn't get his face out of my head. It raised so many questions!

"Lavi?"

But there was one thing I knew for sure – I couldn't leave this kid alone.

"Lavi! Hey, Lav-"

Without even noticing, I cut her off.

"I'm going to find him and offer him to stay here."

"You _what_? But you don't know anything about him at all, how do you know that he won't do anything bad? He's a criminal, Lavi!"

"So what if he is? He's just a homeless boy. You didn't see his _face_. He may be a criminal, but he doesn't _want_ to be! He's not a bad person, I'm sure of that. I want to help him!"

"Are you really sure about this?" she asked, frowning.

"_More_ than sure."

After a short silence, she sighed and said, "Well, it's your decision. If you're that determined to help him, I might as well support you. But don't come crying to me when you find all of your money gone one day!" she waved her finger at me playfully.

I smiled fondly at her. "Don't worry, I won't do that. I don't think it will happen, but if it does, it's my own fault. Thank you for always supporting me, Lena-lady."

"You're welcome. That's what friends are for, right?" she grinned back at me.

My smile widened.

"Right."

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><p><em>. Chapter 4 FIN .<br>_

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><p><em>AN: _So they meet once more and Lavi finds out who it is that has mugged him ;) Reviews and feedback are always appreciated x3 See ya next chapter, folks! :)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I _dedicate _this chapter to **Hakumei-chan **for I hope it will cheer her up (you'll do better next time for sure :3), to **animeobsessed001 **because she thought of replying to my message even though she was grounded (that was really sweet of you x3) and also to **xrowa-chanx **(simply because I like talking to you xD) x3


	5. Mission

_A/N: _Hey folks! I can finally present you with chapter 5 of PIT! (By the way, this chapter is the longest chapter so far :) )  
>I'm sorry if this one is crap, for some reason I had a lot of problems writing this and in the end I had to rewrite it completely, so I kind of lost the ability to judge if it's acceptable xD I did my best though, so please don't be too harsh on me if it does suck D:<br>Also, It's been pointed out to me that my dialogues need some work (which I admit is true, I was just a little lazy until now [once again thanks to the person who pointed it out!]) so I did what I could to improve them in this chapter, adding descriptions and stuff. Please tell me what you think about it! :)  
>Anyway, on with the chapter now :3<p>

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><p><strong><em> Chapter 5 – Mission<em>**

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><p>I stopped reorganizing the books for a moment to allow my gaze to wander about the store. The sun's rays illuminated the parts of the floor that they managed to reach, the many particles of dust dancing inside the light making them visible to the naked eye. I smiled at the picture – this dusty bookstore never failed to feel like home. The old panda was in the back right now, so I allowed myself to take a breather and look at my watch. Only one more hour until I could call it a day.<p>

I liked working here, for although I didn't come across as the type that likes books, I loved both reading and writing. The smell of old books, dust and ink was precious to me.

Still, even though I was usually more than content with being here, today I wanted nothing more than for the day to be over quickly.

Those eyes were still haunting me.

I had received several new bruises throughout the day because my spacing out was rewarded with Gramps either hitting or kicking me. I had tried concentrating on my work, but as the day progressed I had to admit that I wasn't able to focus at all.

Instead I began to think up a plan. After all, it wasn't as if I could just walk up to that kid and ask him if he wants to live with me – I wouldn't even get the chance to talk to him for he would definitely run away as soon as he sees me approaching him.

Besides, he probably won't trust me. If I was him, I'd think it was a trap so that the person I stole from could get back at me or something like that.

In less than an hour I'd be allowed to go home, and by now I had something in mind for the kid that I wanted to try out tonight. With the help of Lenalee, hopefully. I felt bad for asking her for help all the time, but if I really wanted to do this, I didn't have much of a choice. This I couldn't do alone. I was really lucky to have such a kind best friend.

I heard a noise from the back that made me flinch and immediately continue my task, acting as if I hadn't just daydreamed for a while. Soon enough, footsteps alerted me of the old panda's approach.

I paid no attention to the short, old man that was my guardian though, instead focusing on the bookshelf in front of me as if I was searching for a book that didn't belong there. I winced as I received a rather painful hit on the head.

"Ow!" I yelled, even though I should've expected it. My hand went up to my head to rub the spot where his hand had hit me.

"You were slacking off again just now, weren't you?" the old man scolded me. Oh well. I was used to that.

"Damn panda.." I muttered, only to be kicked in the back, making me stumble forward a few steps, almost crashing into the bookshelf in front of me. This old geezer was way too violent sometimes.

"Do your work properly, brat!" he demanded, looking at me sternly.

I sighed and continued reorganizing the books under the strict gaze of the man that had more or less raised me since I was six years old. Even though I've known that old geezer for so long, I don't even know his first name. He likes to be called by his last name, Bookman, claiming that he doesn't have a name other than that. I found the name quite ironic, actually, seeing that he was keeping a bookstore.

The old geezer was quite a solitary person, always acting gruffly and trying to appear unfriendly so no one would approach him. Our relationship had always been kind of violent, but there weren't many people who knew that it was just his way of hiding that he actually cared.

I was one of the people he just didn't manage to scare away, and I put up with his violence almost daily. Over time I had gotten used to it, and I was quite good at reading him by now if I may say so myself. That didn't save me from his hits and kicks, though.

Regardless of his slightly abusive treatment, he felt like a grandpa of sorts to me, and I was glad that I could work for him in his bookstore, even more so because I loved books.

"You're spacing out unusually often today, brat. Is something the matter?" Bookman asked gruffly.

I frowned. If I managed to make him worry enough to actually voice his concern, I must've acted really suspicious. I felt uncomfortable when thinking of telling him about my plans for the thief, though, so I decided to tell him about something else that was bothering me.

"I'll probably have to tell the landlord that he'll have to wait for my rent a few days longer than usual..."

Gramps raised an eyebrow at me; He knew something was up.

"I see." he simply said. I was glad – it meant that he wouldn't question me about it although he knew that I hadn't told him the entire truth.

"You can leave after you've finished with this bookshelf." He said it as if he wanted to tell me to get the hell out of his store if I couldn't do my work properly, but I knew what he really meant was that I should hurry and leave if there was something bothering me this much.

I nodded at him and waited until he had left the store's front area before I allowed the grin to spread across my face. If I hurried up now, I could leave early! With renewed enthusiasm, I resumed my previous task.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"Are you free this evening?" I asked the moment Lenalee picked up her mobile phone.

"Yeah, why?" the girl asked, not really surprised by my sudden call. I randomly called her quite often, and vice versa.

"Awesome! Then could you come over, uh... as soon as possible? We have a thief to catch." I grinned.

"Sure thing, I was bored anyway. I'll be at your place in a few minutes. See ya!" That said, she hung up on me.

I smiled at the phone in my hand before I pocketed it. If there was a person you could always count on, it was Lenalee.

I stood up from the chair I had been sitting on for the last 20 minutes, left the kitchen and took a short trip to the bathroom. I then threw a last look at my reflection in the mirror to check if I was still presentable before opening the front door to reveal a waiting Lenalee.

"You're early." I said, slightly surprised.

"You're late." she countered, making me grin.

"True." We both laughed and I opened my front door wide, bowing excessively and gesturing her in.

She giggled and entered my apartment with as much dignity as she could muster, which was actually quite a lot. If she was wearing a dress instead of shorts, tights and a comfortable shirt, I would've mistaken her for a noblewoman easily.

I chuckled and 'escorted' her to the kitchen before I dropped the act and simply asked her if she'd like something to drink. Two minutes and two glasses of water later, we were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table and I began briefing Lenalee about my plan.

"Okay, I'm going to explain everything and you can ask your questions afterwards, is that okay? I think I'm going to lose the thread otherwise." I laughed, scratching my head.

"Sure, go ahead." she smiled kindly at me. "Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it, though."

I chuckled. "Yeah, Gramps kept hitting me for spacing out so much..."

"Well, you're not supposed to think up a plan during work, so I guess you deserved it," she scolded me playfully.

"Probably," I agreed, smiling.

"Anyway... about my plan to get hold of the thief – obviously the store is a place he keeps coming back to, so we're just going to hope that he'll be there again today. The thing is, if he notices me noticing him, he'll definitely run away immediately. So we're going to do this: We'll both go in, although separately, and while you buy the stuff I need, I'll buy fresh groceries for you – you decide which – so that you can, for example, cook something nice for the three of us tomorrow if you like. If not, you have to cook for Komui, anyway, so I guess either way would be okay.

"It's just a hunch, but I assume the thief decides on his target based on what the person buys. You know I'm lazy, so I mostly buy food that you need to heat up or something at most. You could probably eat most of that stuff while it's still cold, too. He's homeless, so how's he supposed to cook something? He's dependent on the food being instant food. He probably watches the store's customers through the conveniently placed glass walls to find out who buys something he can use and who doesn't."

"So, you want me to buy your instant food because you're speculating on him stealing my bag?" Lenalee asked, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to ask her questions later. I inwardly shrugged and simply answered her instead of reminding her.

"Exactly."

She frowned. "But what's the point?"

"The point is," I began, propping my elbows on the table and leaning forward slightly in the process, "that he'll steal the wrong bag." I grinned smugly.

"You mean.." she started, trailing off. I finished the sentence for her.

".. we're going to exchange the bags when we're at the counter, after we've paid. He won't be able to notice that if we do it right."

"Okay, let's just assume that we manage to exchange our bags without him noticing. Then what?" I could hear that she wasn't convinced, but I decided to continue my explanation anyway. She would voice her objections soon enough, might as well explain the rest before she does.

"Well, for once, I'll put this," I pointed to a slip of paper that lay on the table next to a pen, "into your bag so that he will find it. Then, you'll use some excuse to set down your bag and look away, so that he gets a chance to actually steal it from you. If he does, our plan has succeeded and from then on it's up to the kid. If not, we'll just try again in a few days or so. So? What do you think?"

She turned the paper around so she could read what was written on it. After she had finished reading it, she looked up at me with a frown on her face.

"Lavi, I don't think that it will be this easy. The plan relies on luck too much." She didn't like saying that, I could see it clearly when I looked at her face.

"Maybe, but we won't know if it will work until we try. Who knows? We might even be lucky." I tried to be optimistic. I wanted this to work, I really did. I didn't have another idea.

"I don't know... If you ask me, it's not gonna work. What if he's not even there? What if he isn't watching me buy the stuff? What if he sees you and makes a connection? What if he won't choose me as his target? Actually, if he's really as polite as his Post-It notes make him out to be, do you really think he'd steal from a girl?"

I started at the amount of questions she had, a pout forming on my face as I noticed that I didn't have an answer to most of them.

"You have a point there, as much as I hate to admit it." Leaving the comment about the bike aside, he really seemed to be a polite person.

Lenalee raised an eyebrow at me. "How did you manage to think about this stuff the whole day during work without noticing the obvious flaws in your plan?"

I made a face and shrugged. My pride was currently trying to find a dark corner to lick its wounds in.

"Maybe Bookman's violent treatment messed up my head," I grumbled, making her burst out laughing.

Damn, how did I manage to think up such a crappy plan, really? I mentally facepalmed.

"Okay, so what do you suggest we do then, oh wise one?"

Lenalee rolled her eyes at me, grinning. "Now you're mocking me because I hurt your pride? Very mature."

I was too busy sulking to comment on that. Her grin turned smug when I didn't argue with her about her statement and, happy about having won this discussion, she decided to kindly answer my question.

"I'd say we try to stay simple. Why don't we just buy some food for him to at least gain a little of his trust, you give me that slip of paper and point him out to me if you see him, and I'll take it from there?"

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Together we turned into the street the store was on. I stopped to pull the hood of my hoodie out from under my coat, but it was too stubborn so Lenalee had to help me out (albeit only after she had laughed at how funny I looked while I tried to get the hood out from underneath my coat, of course).

I pulled the hood over my head so that it cast a shadow over my face and told Lenalee, "That way he won't recognize me immediately." She nodded and we continued walking towards the supermarket.

Soon we reached the bicycle racks and I cautiously watched out for the thief. I spotted him almost immediately and abruptly turned around so that my back faced him. Better be safe than sorry.

"He's here." I mumbled.  
>"Which one?" Lenalee whispered back, her voice full of excitement.<br>I tried to describe him to her. "It's the one leaning on the wall to your right. He's wearing a dark gray hoodie."

"Oh, you mean the one that just sat down?" she asked me.

I turned slightly and tried to glance over to the boy in question out of the corner of my eye. "Yup, that's him," I confirmed.

"Good. Then let's buy some food." And with that, she linked arms with me and pulled me with her towards the supermarket.

Inside, we browsed the shelves for stuff that the thief would be able to eat. We decided to buy instant food similar to what I usually bought, hoping that one of the reasons that he picked me as a target more than once was that I had bought something that he liked to eat, so I pointed the various items out to Lenalee and she piled them on top of the little mountain of instant food that was already being carried by yours truly.

When we reached the counter, I dropped my miniature mountain onto it and pulled out my wallet. Soon after, we had paid and packed the stuff in a plastic bag which I handed to Lenalee. Usually I would've carried it myself, but I wasn't the one who would give the bag to the thief, so I had no choice but to be ungentlemanly and let her carry it.

Once we were outside again, we both threw a glance in the direction of where the kid had been sitting before. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we saw that he hadn't left yet.

"Do you have the slip of paper?" Lenalee asked me, clearly wanting me to hand it to her even though she didn't say so directly.

"Sure," I replied and dug into my coat pocket, my hand resurfacing with the note seconds later. I unfolded the piece of paper and checked if I had really brought the right note, for I had written a new one after our change of plans. After I had confirmed that it indeed was the note I wanted the boy to receive, I refolded the paper and handed it to Lenalee.

"Okay. Stay here, don't move," she put special emphasis on the last two words, "and let me handle it."

I nodded slightly and she turned around and walked towards the place where our 'target' was sitting.

I kept watching her out of the corner of my eye as she stopped in front of him and knelt down so that she was at eye level with him. She set down the bag in front of him, they exchanged a few words and she handed him the slip of paper before straightening up again. She waved at him before turning around and making her way over to where I was standing.

"Mission accomplished – target has received the message." She grinned smugly, linked arms with me and led me away from the supermarket and towards our apartment building.

"Now it's up to him."

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><p><em>. Chapter 5 FIN .<em>

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><p><em>AN: _So? How did you like it? Actually, I'm not even sure if I want to know *is quite sure that you all didn't like it* x'D Nah, really, please tell me, I'm more than uncertain about this chapter :|


	6. Mr Eyepatch

_A/N: _Hey folks! Yup, a new chapter again :D I'm so glad that I'm not slow at uploading at the moment - it's only been 4 days or so since the last upload :) I hope I'll be able to keep this up, though xD  
>Anyway, I hope this chapter will surprise you at least a little, because... *drumroll*... we have a change of POV! I hope you like seeing all of this from a different angle and that most of the questions you guys have asked me will be answered with this :)<br>Do tell me your thoughts about this, though! Please? :3

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><p><em><strong> Chapter 6 – Mr. Eye-patch<strong>_

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><p>I had just been thinking about how long I'd get by with the food I had last stolen (and came to the dreaded conclusion that I would have to rob someone again soon) when someone approached me. Momentarily getting distracted from wondering if it was really still worth it or if I should just let myself starve to death instead or something since I didn't have a reason to keep on stealing anymore, I glanced up from under my hood to see a young, slender Chinese woman with long black hair tied in two pigtails and a soft, kind face. She was wearing a long, black winter coat with matching black boots that stopped a few inches before her knees. They left only a small part of her long, slim legs that were clad in black tights visible.<p>

In short, she was really pretty, so naturally I was startled when she suddenly spoke up.

"Hello." She said and smiled kindly at me.

She was carrying a shopping bag, I noticed absentmindedly. Was she talking to me? She had to be. Why was she talking to me? I'm a homeless thief – she shouldn't even be near me. I looked around and then frowned. There was no mistaking it, she was talking to me. There wasn't anyone else around that she could be talking to.

I watched as she knelt down so that she was at eye level with me. I stared at her in surprise, the warmth in her eyes astonishing me. I was not at all used to being looked at like that. These days nearly nobody treated the homeless with kindness. _Instead people find it fun to beat us up_, I thought bitterly.

"Uh... hello." I managed to get out – it was a little late, but I didn't want to be rude to her and not reply.

The bright smile I received in return confused me even more. Then suddenly, she looked a bit unsure. I raised an eyebrow – what did she want?

I stared at the plastic bag in her hand and almost pouted because I knew that I wouldn't get my hands on the tasty stuff that was inside. But it wasn't like me to steal from girls, anyway. I'd only do that if I was _really _starving and had no other choice.

Besides, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to continue stealing anymore. I didn't have a reason to keep going – why should I live like that, harming innocent people with my actions, when there's no reason for me to keep on living?

While I was still staring at it, the bag began to move towards me and was set down in front of me. I had no words to describe my confusion.

"It's for you." the girl told me, leaving me speechless.

Even though I knew it was rude, I just openly stared at her, searching in her eyes for something dishonest that would prove to me that this was a trap. I didn't know her, she didn't know me – why would she give me food? It was ridiculous! I didn't believe it, but to my surprise she didn't seem at all as if she was lying to me.

The girl seemed to be mostly unfazed by my stare though, for she continued talking, albeit a little uncertain. "We – I mean, a friend of mine and I bought it for you.. O-okay, actually he was the one who paid for it, but... anyway, he wants you to have it." It was more than obvious that she was uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do to reassure her anyway.

In fact, I think I was the one in need of being reassured. A friend of her? There was no way I'd know anyone that could be this girl's friend. Who the hell was being nice to me? And what was the motive behind it?

"Your friend?" I questioned doubtfully. She seemed glad that I had actually answered her, which made me smile inwardly for some reason while wondering if she had that affect on everyone. She nodded confidently.

"Yeah. He also wanted you to have this," she said and handed me a folded slip of paper. A message, huh? I took the note and looked at the girl's face again.

"Who is that friend of yours?" I asked just as she straightened up. Was she really going to leave that bag here? Seriously?

"Oh, I'm sure you remember him. He's that tall guy with the flaming red hair and the eye-patch whose bag you've stolen twice." she laughed and winked at me, waving before turning around and hurrying away, leaving me dumbfounded and staring after her.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

The old, damaged door creaked when I carefully pushed it open. I slipped inside, closing the door behind me just as carefully. I walked across the room, knowing exactly where to go even though there was only very little light coming from a few cracks in the building's walls as well as from the few broken windows. I reached a door that was actually still quite intact and opened it. I half expected to see the room in front of me being illuminated by the warm light of a fire in the corner and started saying, "I'm hom-" before stopping abruptly.

There was no fire in the fire place, the room was dark, and there was no one awaiting my return anymore. I would never be welcomed home by him again.

"Tim..."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about my best friend who was no longer alive. We had been friends for almost a year now and living on the streets made people stick together more strongly than usual, so we were more than close. In fact, he had been all I had, and my motivation to carry on living this life.

I had stumbled over the hyperactive blonde one day when I was wandering the streets, shortly after the incident that had left me without a home, and he was so helpless that I just couldn't _not_ take care of him. I took him in – as far as you can call it that – and helped him as much as I could, even though I originally hadn't even planned on staying alive for much longer because of what had happened to me before I met him.

Together, we did what we could to make life on the streets bearable for us. While I went out to get us food, being the better pickpocket and all, he did his best to make the run down building that was our temporary home more comfortable and homey. Without realizing it himself, he had helped me a lot too, and he had always been the reason for me to keep going when I didn't see a point anymore. Until now.

A little less than a month ago, when I was out to get us food, he left the building in search of something that could be used as firewood. He wasn't home when I came back, so I went out to search for him. When I did find him, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, battered and bruised, pieces of wood scattered all around him. He had already been dead by the time I arrived.

Still in the doorway, I sank to my knees and allowed myself to break down and sob, tears running down my face while the memories replayed in my head once again. No way would I ever forget the picture of him lying there, bloodied and broken.

If I only knew who had done this to him. I could only assume from looking at his wounds that it had been a bunch of thugs that thought it was cool to beat an innocent, homeless boy to death. They had no idea how lucky they were that I didn't know them.

Ever since Tim's death, I've been questioning my every move. Before, I had robbed people mostly for Tim's sake. He couldn't get by on his own, he needed me to help him. I had convinced me to keep going because Tim depended on me, even if I didn't like being a thief. But now? What justification did I have to steal from other people? Was my life really that important? Important enough to do that kind of thing to innocent people? I didn't know if I should keep on living when there wasn't a point. There wasn't anyone left who needed me, and I didn't have a future anyway. Still, even though I have asked myself these questions countless of times since I had found Tim's dead body lying in an alleyway that night, I somehow just couldn't bring myself to commit suicide. After all, I've always been told to keep on walking forward no matter what, right? I wouldn't stay true to that philosophy if I purposely shortened my journey, if I took the easy way out. On the other hand – would I really care about not staying true to it when I was already dead, anyway?

Misty-eyed because of my tears I glanced at the plastic bag next to me, not really seeing it but knowing that it was there. Was this a sign that I shouldn't give up my life yet? Or was it just a trap?

I wiped my face with the sleeve of my old, dark gray hoodie and stood up on shaky legs, sparking a fire in the fire place and taking the bag with me as I went to sit down on a cushion in front of the new source of warmth.

Hesitantly, I opened the bag to look at its contents. My eyes lit up at the amount of tasty instant food that they had bought for me, but then I frowned. Could I really trust this?

I methodically checked all the expiration dates, made sure that none of the packages had been opened before and proceeded to make a neat pile of food next to me as I did so. Everything seemed fine. I pulled out the slip of paper that I had stuffed in my pocket – I had wanted to wait until I was 'home' before reading it. Now that I was and that I couldn't find anything wrong with the food, I decided that it was time to see what Mr. Eye-patch wanted from me.

_'Hello there, Post-It thief! If you're reading this, it means you've met Lenalee already._

_I'm glad you chose to take a look at this note instead of throwing it away immediately._

_Man, this is weird... Okay, listen (or rather, read. *laughs*): _

_I know you probably won't trust me at all, since it makes no sense to you that I want to do this even though you've robbed me twice, but I've seen your face, especially your eyes, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I really don't think that you're a bad person._

_I don't know why you live on the streets, but you seem to be unhappy about stealing, and I've never before heard of a thief who leaves behind an apology. If that's not proof that you feel bad about stealing, I don't know what is._

_So, long story short, I don't hate you at all for robbing me (though you _could_ have been a little more considerate of the state of my wallet ;) ). Quite the contrary, I want to help you._

_I don't expect from you to trust me right away, but I want to provide you with the opportunity to get away from life on the streets and, well, move in with me instead. _

_I know, I know, you're probably thinking something along the lines of, "Is that guy a retard? Who would offer something like that to a thief?". Guess what, Lenalee said something similar when I told her about my plans. But I really mean what I say.. or rather, write._

_I can only tell you that this isn't a trap, but I know you probably won't believe me either way. If you're willing to try it out though, meet me at the supermarket's bicycle racks tomorrow evening, and we'll talk._

_Maybe I really am just a retard, but what do you have to lose?_

_See ya soon (hopefully), _

_the guy with the eye-patch_

_P.S. By the way, that bike wasn't mine, it was Lenalee's.'_

I snorted at the last sentence. What a weird person. A deep frown formed on my face as I tried to comprehend what Mr. Eye-patch was suggesting.

Let me get this straight – that guy, which I have robbed twice, was offering to let me _live with him?_ What the hell was wrong with that moron? Either he was just a complete idiot, or it was a trap.

I had to admit that both were very realistic possibilities.

The guy was right about one thing though – what did I have to lose? _Nothing_. Not anymore.

I didn't have anyone here that depended on me, I didn't have anything important that I'd have to leave behind, and even if this was a trap – who cares? I didn't know what to do with myself anyway. _If that guy does try to harm me in any way, and I don't think he will simply because such a nice girl is a friend of his and because I'm quite sure that the possibility of him being an idiot is much more likely, I could always run away again. He wouldn't be able to find me, he doesn't know this city like I do. _

_Besides, if worse comes to worst, I could always commit suicide_, I thought dryly.

Still, there had to be some kind of catch. Even if he was an idiot, there was no way he'd let me stay with him without expecting something in return, or was there?

"I guess the only way to find out is to meet up with him," I said aloud. Then I shrugged.

"Why not?"

_Might as well keep on walking forward._

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><p><em>. Chapter 6 FIN . <em>

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><p><em>AN:_ So? What do you think? Do you like reading Allen's POV? And yeah, I've put "Tim Canpy" in there. As a human. And then I killed him. Sorry xD I had his 'full' name in there somewhere, but when my friend read it, she burst out laughing because she imagined a human with a Timcanpy as a head, and it didn't really fit the mood, so, yeah.  
>I'll probably write Allen's POV more often from now on, except if you are all against it xD The next chapter will once again be from his point of view though, but after that, who knows? ^^<p> 


	7. Meeting

_A/N: _Hey guys! OMG, it's been too long since I updated! I'm sorry, I feel soooo bad about it! Q_Q *hides behind a corner* please don't kill me! D:

I know it's the same old excuse every time, but school demands of me to sacrifice all of my free time for it right now X.x Exams are coming up and a huge term paper is due on Tuesday and I have about 1/8 of it done... but I felt so bad about not uploading for so long, which is why I took the time to upload this "back up chapter" as I'd like to call it. For those who don't know, I usually upload a chapter after I've finished writing the chapter after that. It's so I can upload something just in case I can't find the time to write or if I happen to have writer's block. ^^ I haven't written more than five lines or so of the next chapter though, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer... ._.

Anyway, I hope you can forgive me ;_; I can't say when the next chapter will be uploaded though, cause as I said, I'm incredibly busy right now :/

By the way, this chapter is dedicated to everyone who's still waiting for me to reply to their messages. I'm really sorry, guys! :(

Well, there's no reason to make you wait any longer, on with the chapter! :)

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 7 – Meeting<strong>_

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><p>It was getting darker by the minute as I hurried through the maze-like alleyways that I knew so well. I was late for the meeting with that guy, mostly because in the back of my mind I had started doubting my decision to go through with it and meet up with Mr. Eye-patch. I had wasted too much time contemplating, noticing far too late how close the sun was to setting already.<p>

Without wasting another thought on if meeting him was the right thing to do or not, I had jumped to my feet, grabbed the plastic bag I had received yesterday and rushed out of the... piece of wood that dared to call itself the front door of the run down building I lived in. Now here I was, by now already panting, hurriedly making my way through the different alleyways that led to my destination – my usual supermarket.

I instinctively dodged the old boxes and bottles that were lying around everywhere while speeding up, hoping to make it to the bicycle racks before that guy would leave. Why exactly did it suddenly matter this much to me? Maybe because there was the possibility of it being a realistic chance to get out of this homeless life. I didn't know, but I didn't have time to waste thinking about it if I wanted to make it to the supermarket on time.

I reached the main street that the store was on and skidded to an abrupt halt, allowing myself to catch my breath for a minute. Having stopped right before I rounded the corner, I then pressed my back against the brick wall and carefully glanced around said corner towards the bicycle racks, trying to make out the figure of the guy that had offered to let me stay with him.

I had to search for a minute or so because of the crowd hiding him from my view, but finally I spotted him standing under a lone street lamp close to the store's side wall. He seemed to be leaning on the lamp post, as far as I could tell from the distance. Suddenly, I was painfully aware of my heart pounding loudly in my chest. _Oh crap, _now_ I'm nervous? Awesome_, I thought sarcastically.

Hesitantly, I made my way closer to the boy that had wanted to meet me, but I decided to stay hidden for now, so I made a detour, tiptoeing through the shadows of the buildings that conveniently surrounded the bicycle racks while approaching him. Soon, I had managed to get within about three meters of the redhead without him noticing me.

I once again pressed my back against the wall, standing right outside the pool of light the street lamp created. Mr. Eye-patch had his back turned to me, so I remained undiscovered for now.

As I stood there in the semi-dark, so close to the person that could make my life either better or worse, I hesitated. Should I really reveal myself to him? What if it was really just a trap to get revenge for stealing his bags?

Absentmindedly, I fiddled with my old, worn out gloves, nervous and not sure what to do. I didn't know this guy, so how should I know if he meant what he had offered? Just because he seems to have such a nice friend, it doesn't mean that he's automatically a nice person, too. Sure, it was more than nice of him to buy me food, but if that was just an act to gain my trust, there was nothing nice about it after all, right?

I flinched and almost forgot to breathe for a moment as the guy a few feet away from me suddenly heaved a sigh, his posture slumping. I exhaled slowly and silently – that just now had startled me. My eyes darted over to him and I noticed him pulling out a mobile phone, dialing and putting it to his ear. Before I could decide whether I wanted to eavesdrop or not, the person on the other end of the line answered the call.

"Yea, hi Lenalee," I heard the redhead say, his voice deep, but not overly so, and surprisingly melodic. I randomly thought that I liked the sound of it, then shoved the thought aside when I realized that the person he was talking to had to be the Chinese girl from yesterday.

"No... seems he didn't come..." I frowned. So he was talking to her about me? _Well, I guess that means I'm lucky. Let's see what he has to say._

"I don't think he will, Lena-lady. I've been waiting here for hours already, and it's getting late." He actually sounded genuinely depressed about that. Why? Did he want to beat me up so badly? I couldn't really imagine a different reason.

The redhead continued talking. "Why should he? It was a stupid idea, I guess. I don't know what I would've done if I was in his place. I probably would've gladly taken the food – after I've checked if everything was alright with it, of course – and then I'd forget about the rest. Being offered something like this is so damn unrealistic these days, I'd be one hundred percent sure that it was a trap." he chuckled bitterly.

Hey, this guy actually wasn't as dumb as I thought he was. I had done almost the same as he had just described, except that I was here now. What did that say about me? I didn't know, but I didn't really care, either. I was starting to think that it may not have been a trap after all, though.

"You're right," he sighed, "I wish we could've helped him, though." _So he really wants to help me!_ I couldn't believe it. How high was the possibility that he was lying to her? He didn't know that I was listening, so I supposed it was highly unlikely.

"Yea, I guess I'll go home now, then. I'll call you again later, okay?" now he really sounded resigned. I watched as he pocketed the phone, straightened up and adjusted his clothes.

I felt as if someone had just punched me in the stomach when I realized with a start that the person who wanted to help me get away from this life that I hated was about to leave, and that my only chance to change for the better would disappear with him.

My heart was pounding loudly, telling me to hurry up and just_ do_ something about this situation. Panicked, I stared at the guy's back, wondering if I should cross the distance between us and lightly touch his shoulder to alert him of my presence. I was about to raise my arm, but then I grimaced. Would he want to be touched by a hobo? Probably not. So should I just call out to him? But that would draw attention to not only me, but us. Who would want to be seen with someone like me? Plus, I didn't even know his name.

While I was busy contemplating what I should do, I saw him begin to walk away. I took a few unsure steps forward, which caused me to stand inside the pool of light that the redhead had previously occupied. I stared after him, more or less frozen because I didn't know what to do.

_He's leaving! What am I doing? He'll disappear! _My thoughts were in disarray, making me unable to decide on what to do next and freezing me in place.

With every step the guy took away from me, my heart sank further and further. Then suddenly, it leaped and skipped a beat. For some reason the redhead had turned around one last time. His only visible eye now seemed to be fixated on me.

Frozen, we stared at each other for a moment, neither moving nor talking. Then the guy began walking back towards me.

_Shit, what now?_ I hadn't even thought about what to do when I actually met him. How was I supposed to act? And why did I have to be so nervous? Oh god, what was I going to do?

Once more panicking inwardly, I stayed where I was and watched as he approached me. I was a little relieved when he was close enough so I could see his face, for it was clearly visible for a moment that he was almost as nervous as I was.

Hesitantly, he took the last few steps before stopping when we were standing in front of each other at a comfortable distance. I looked up at him and expected him to say something, but instead he just flashed me a beaming grin that was almost unsettling.

"Hey there, Post-It thief!" he greeted enthusiastically, "I thought you weren't going to show up!"

I frowned, my heart still beating fast. "Is that my nickname now?" I asked, somehow managing to smile at him.

"Yup! At least as long as I don't know your name," he told me and actually stuck out his tongue.

Was that his way of hiding his nervousness? I grinned slightly.

"Well then, Mr. Eye-patch," I started, only barely suppressing a laugh at the face he made when hearing my nickname for him, "you said you'd like to talk to me, so here I am."

He looked at me for a moment, studying my face, before getting a little more serious. "The name's Lavi," he said with a kind smile, "and I'm actually quite surprised that you did show up."

I nodded. "I wasn't sure if I really should, so before I knew it it was later than I thought." Man, that kind of sounded as if I was stupid. And why did I even feel the need to explain myself? I felt a little embarrassed.

"That's okay," he grinned at me once again, "being late is better than not showing up at all. Much better, actually."

I couldn't help but smile back. He seemed to be a nice person, after all. _No, don't let your guard down just yet_, I reprimanded myself.

"So, are you going to accept my offer?" he asked me, sounding genuinely curious.

_I'd love to, but I don't trust it. It sounds way too good to be true. _

"What's the catch?" I asked him straightforwardly.

I saw him pause and almost chuckled, but stopped myself before the sound could escape my lips. Had he really not thought about that?

"Hmm, the catch, you ask? Well, you have to promise me that you'll stop stealing." the glint in his only visible eye unmistakably told me that he had a good idea of what I thought about that rule – I didn't mind it in the slightest. Why was he thinking this up on the spot? Wasn't it kind of pointless?

"Nothing else?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"The bed's mine. You'll have to sleep on the couch, but don't worry, it's a very comfy one."

This time I couldn't stop myself from snorting with laughter. Lavi's eye shone with amusement and a grin tugged at his lips as he watched me.

As soon as I had calmed down a little, I said, "You can't be serious, there has to be something you expect me to do in exchange for being allowed to stay with you."

He just looked at me questioningly, not saying anything. Was there really nothing? Nothing at all? He really didn't seem to be able to come up with something, so I decided to 'help him out'.

"For example, what about money? I can't pay you for staying with you, how are you going to afford it?"

At this, he actually looked genuinely surprised. Was he _kidding _me?

"Hm. Good point. Don't worry, I'll figure something out." he said happily.

I sweatdropped, raising an eyebrow. Wow. He_ really _hadn't thought about that yet. That was... impressive, in a way. Maybe I should take back what I thought earlier, he was definitely as dumb as I had thought he was.

I stayed silent for a minute, trying to decide if it was worth the risk to just go with him, weighing up the pro's and con's.

Then, after a few moments of awkward silence, Lavi quietly asked, "Well? What do you say..?"

I inwardly sighed, took a deep breath and answered, "I guess we could try it out."

"Awesome!" Lavi yelled, making me flinch in reaction to the sudden loud outburst. "Let's go, then!" he exclaimed.

"Uh... okay." I answered quietly. Was I going to regret this, after all?

"Wait! Do you need anything from... well... wherever it is that you stay? Where did you stay up til now, anyway?"

"That's none of your business...," I muttered, before adding a little louder, "No, I don't need anything except this." I raised the hand that was still grabbing onto the handles of the plastic bag I had received yesterday.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, pleasantly surprised and without any indication that he had heard the first part of my reply, "You brought it with you!"

"Uh, yeah... I didn't want to let it go to waste..." I was slightly embarrassed for some reason.

"That's awesome, it'll save us some money!" he grinned heartily at me, making me smile back involuntarily.

Once again he exclaimed, "Okay, then let's go home!" And with that, he grabbed my wrist and gently pulled me along with him before I could protest or change my mind.

_'Home', huh? _

_I just hope I've made the right decision._

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><p><em>.Chapter 7 FIN.<em>

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><p><em>AN:_ So that's it. I hope you liked it, and I hope you won't have to wait ages for the next chapter to be uploaded ;_; **Also, to everyone whose messages I didn't reply to, I'm really sorry! I just couldn't find the time to do so, don't hold it against me please Q_Q I'll reply to you all as soon as I can!**


	8. Home Sweet Home

_A/N: _Hey guys! Sorry, it's been a long time again. D: Three weeks and one day, to be precise. OTL  
>Forgive me, please? Q-Q (I don't even know how I manage to find time to write right now, I've been so busy lately... just look at tomorrow alone - one four-hour-long exam, a very scary History test and some pointless analysis of some sculpture that nobody cares about... gaaah! I haven't done anything for it yet!) At least there's only one week of school left until the holidays... though it's not as if I have heaps of free time during the holidays, either.. *sighs*) I apologize for any mistakes, I usually wait a few days and reread it again before I upload but I didn't want to make you all wait any longer...<p>

Anyway, I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far. I hope you enjoy and I'll try to upload faster somehow... ORZ

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><p><strong><em> Chapter 8 – Home Sweet Home<em>**

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><p>After a few minutes of walking, I let go of the boy's wrist. It was obvious to me that he was uncomfortable with the touch and I didn't want to force him to do anything he didn't like.<p>

We walked next to each other in awkward silence, him to my left. I really wanted to say something, but I didn't know what I should talk about.

So I watched him out of the corner of my eye, studying him. He had his hood down, thankfully, so I could see his profile quite well. His facial features were surprisingly soft and still quite child-like, and there were a few traces of dirt on his cheeks, contrasting against his skin. Once again I wondered about his strange hair whose color I still couldn't really identify. It was a little dirty and greasy but not overly so, and all in all he didn't look as filthy as you'd expect a homeless person to be, so I guessed he probably had found a place to go and wash himself whenever he could at some point. It interested me greatly how and for how long he had managed to get by, but these questions would have to wait until later. I didn't believe that he would tell me right now if I asked him directly, anyway.

I didn't think that I had ever before been in a situation that was more awkward than this one. After struggling inwardly to find the right thing to say, I settled on a simple "We're almost there", telling him so with a bright smile on my face.

He glanced at me from behind his grayish bangs and nodded, the corners of his lips turning upward slightly in response. Momentarily satisfied with the response I received, I grinned slightly and tried to stop staring at him.

To be honest, I was strangely happy that I had somehow managed to convince him to live with me. But being with him like this without knowing him at all was kind of awkward, obviously, and being this nervous was pretty unusual for me. I was looking forward to arriving at my apartment building, for as soon as we got there I'd have plenty of things to talk about when showing him his new home. Hopefully. Right now, I didn't know what to say, and that annoyed me.

When I finally sighted the building I lived in, I almost sighed but suppressed it at the last second. What would the boy think of me if I already sounded as if it was tiring to be with him?

Eventually we reached the building and I stopped walking, which in turn caused the thief to come to a halt shortly after. He looked at me questioningly and asked, curiosity evident in his voice, "is this where you live?"

I nodded. "Yup," I said, "4th floor, to be precise." I grinned at him, glad that he was still positive about the whole thing. Deciding to lighten the atmosphere, I opened the apartment building's door widely and bowed, gesturing the boy in with an exaggerated arm movement. "May I show you to your quarters, your highness?"

The thief raised an eyebrow at me, but chuckled regardless. "If you don't mind", he said before entering the building with a smile on his lips.

My grin widened and I straightened up before hurrying in after him, the door falling shut behind us. Maybe this wasn't going to be as awkward as I thought it would.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sound of a door unlocking echoed through the building as I opened the door to my apartment, keys making a loud sound as they collided with the wood due to the door's momentum when it swung open. I stepped aside to make room for the boy to enter before me and then followed him in, pulling the keys out of the keyhole and closing it behind me. The familiar scent that I associated with my apartment filled my nose and I smiled in spite of myself. _Home, sweet home... and now I won't be the only one living here anymore_, I found myself thinking as I stared at the back of the thief's head.

Said boy was curiously looking around, looking a little lost in the narrow entrance area.

"I'm sorry if my apartment's a little small, I'm sure we'll manage.", I told him while slipping out of my jacket and hanging it on the coat rack. "Want me to show you around?"

He turned his head to look at me and nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, if that's not too much trouble."

I took the plastic bag out of his hands and placed it on the floor to my left – I'd take it with me to the kitchen later.

"No, no, don't worry about it." I placed a hand on the small of his back and gently pushed him forward a few steps, feeling a little bad when I saw him flinch at the touch. I knew that it would take time for him to trust me, so I just chose to ignore it for now, pointing to the left and telling him, "This way is the living room and from there a door leads to the kitchen. As I said before, you'll sleep on the couch in the living room, so I'll give you some blankets later."

I waited until he was finished poking his head into the room I had mentioned, then pointed to the right, telling him that the door to opposite to the one that led to the living room was the door to my bedroom which had doors leading to both the washroom and a small storage room.

"In front of you is the bathroom by the way. Would you like to take a shower?" I asked him, trying not to sound as if I thought he needed one.

"That would be nice." he replied, obviously liking the thought of taking a shower.

"Well, go ahead, then" I said, ruffling his hair but stopping when I saw that he was uncomfortable with it. Smiling sheepishly because of the awkwardness of the situation, I added, "I'll search for some clean clothes for you to wear in the meantime, okay?"

The boy nodded and opened the door in front of him, entering the bathroom and smiling gratefully at me before closing the door.

The sound of a door being locked reached my ears and brought me back from the verge of spacing out in the middle of the hallway. I shook my head to clear it and entered my bedroom, where I proceeded to rummage through my closet looking for clothes that could fit the boy. It took me a while to dig out an old, washed out sweater that had probably been black once as well as a pair of jeans that had been my favorite before I forgot to pay mind to the washing instructions and caused it to shrink a little. I briefly wondered why I had never bothered to throw them away but shrugged it off and crouched down to find the boy some boxer shorts and socks inside my drawers.

Pile of clothing in my arms, I returned to the hallway and knocked on the bathroom door a few times before calling, "I found some clothes for you to wear! I'll leave them right in front of the door for you, okay?"

"O-okay, thank you!" he replied,barely audible over the sound of running water.

I placed the pile of clothing on the floor just where I said I would and turned to find some blankets and such to place them on the sofa.

I was just returning to the living room with my hands full when I heard the boy call out to me softly. "..um, Lavi...?"

"What is it?" I asked him in a friendly tone to show that he didn't have a reason to be scared.  
>"Uh, can I... is it okay if I use your shower gel and shampoo?"<p>

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Go ahead, I don't mind." I told him.

Another shy "Thank you..." could be heard over the sound of the shower.

"You're welcome," I smiled and turned to take the blankets and stuff to the living room.

A few minutes later, after I was finished with making the thief's "bed", had taken the plastic bag to the kitchen and had just re-entered the living room, I heard the bathroom door unlock. Not wanting to invade his privacy I turned away from the doorway that lead to the hallway and went to turn on the stereo instead, choosing a low volume and a CD with songs that filled the silence but could easily be played in the background without being distracting. I wanted to talk to the boy after all, not silently listen to music.

It only took a few seconds for the bathroom door to be closed and locked again. It would probably take the boy a few minutes to dress, but I had ran out of things to do.

Standing in the living room, not knowing how I should occupy myself now that I finished preparing everything and was only waiting for my thief to emerge from the bathroom, I suddenly began to feel nervous. Not only that this whole situation was pretty much awkward anyway, I had no idea whatsoever how to start a proper conversation with him.

What are you supposed to talk about with a stranger that you just picked up from the street, and after he robbed you multiple times at that?

I inwardly reprimanded myself for complaining. Hell, he was the one offered to stay at a random guy's apartment - he was probably even more uncomfortable than me. I was still surprised that he had actually agreed to this.

But the whole thing had been my idea anyway, so who was I to complain about it now? I'd just have to do my best to make some decent conversation with the boy.

Once again I heard the sound of a door being unlocked, reminding me that I was standing in the middle of the living room spacing off. I jumped a little and decided to act as if I was still setting up the blankets and pillow on the sofa.

Inwardly cursing my nervousness, heart pounding loudly in my chest, I tried to appear immersed in what I was doing even though I had of course noticed that the boy had opened the bathroom door.

"Umm..." my thief said quietly, voice shaking ever so slightly. I looked up and took in his appearance – even though I had chosen the smallest clothes I could find, they were still a few sizes too big for him, making him look more like a little kid than like the teenage boy he was.

His cheeks were faintly dusted pink due to his embarrassment and his damp hair that I could now see was of a snowy silver-white color was occasionally dripping water onto the white towel that he had hung around his neck. He had rolled up one of the sleeves of the oversized sweater as well as his pant legs while the remaining sleeve went way past his fingertips. Overall he reminded me of a child playing dress up with his parent's clothes.

I grinned at him, causing the slight blush on his cheeks to intensify.

"I suppose we'll have to find something more suitable for you to wear soon, but I guess these will do for now, eh?" I chuckled slightly.

I watched as he let go of the door frame he had previously clutched and nodded, muttering a thank you. I smiled in response and waved him over. As he neared me I could faintly smell the scent of my shampoo and shower gel.

"This is where you're going to sleep from now on" I declared while pointing towards my sofa. "Go on, sit down!"

At my encouragement he sat down carefully, as if the sofa would disappear if he wasn't careful with it. It was endearing, really, and the look on his face as he sank into the soft cushions almost caused me to burst out laughing. Grinning mischievously, I let myself fall onto the sofa next to him, making sure to impact hard enough to make the boy jump.

"Wah!" he yelled in shock when he suddenly bounced up and down on the sofa. I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud, clutching my stomach and bending over in the process. This little guy was just too funny.

He pouted at me, which was not helping me end my laughing fit in the slightest. A few seconds later I had just barely managed to calm down when my thief's stomach suddenly growled _very _loudly, making me pause for a moment staring at him before bursting out laughing once again. There went the plan to start a decent conversation.

"Sorry," I panted when my laughter finally died down, "you must be hungry, eh? What would you like to eat?"

The boy just looked at me questioningly, not saying anything. I mentally facepalmed then, remembering that he didn't even know what kind of food I had at home right now.

"Come on, let's see what we can find in my fridge," I told him and stood up, pulling him up with me and leading the way to my kitchen.

As soon as I opened the door of my fridge, the white-haired boy's eyes began to sparkle. I grinned inwardly at how the sparse amount of food inside it made the boy this happy and asked him as nonchalantly as possible, "Is there anything in particular that you want to eat? You can choose." After a second I added as an afterthought, "Sorry that most of it is instant food, though."At my apology he just looked at me as if I wasn't in my right mind before scanning over the contents of my fridge. A smile spread across his face and his eyes lit up as he pointed out a plastic box of some Japanese food called mitarashi dango.

I chuckled at his facial expression and took the box out of the fridge, opening it and taking out a small amount of dango to put it on one of the two plates I had previously placed on the kitchen counter. I wasn't that hungry at the moment, so I didn't divide the amount of dango into half but took a considerably smaller amount instead. I held the second plate out to him, telling him to feel free to help himself to the dango. He took the plate from me and beamed at me, once again making me smile because of how happy the smallest things could make him.

While my thief was occupied with the mitarashi dango, I set the table and filled two glasses with water, concluding that he wouldn't mind drinking water instead of some soft drink.

I then turned back around and asked him, "Are you done?"

He turned to face me and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah." he said, his voice a little shaky.

I walked over to him to put the box with the remaining dango back into the fridge but stopped short when I saw that it was in fact empty. I raised an eyebrow at the small mountain of mitarashi dango on the thief's plate, which caused the boy to look at me with worry and fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, "I'll put some of it back, I'm sorry!" He tried to grab the empty plastic box, but I was faster.

"Calm down, will ya? I'm not angry at you." I told him, smiling reassuringly.

"Really?" he asked, looking at me with his big gray eyes as if he was trying to make sure that I wasn't lying to him.

"Yeah, really. I'm not angry at all, silly, I was just surprised that you piled so much food. You sure you'll be able to finish all this?"

Seeming to gain back a little confidence, he nodded, grinning slightly. "Definitely."

"Okay, if you say so." I smiled at him and turned to throw away the empty plastic box.

When I heard plates clatter behind me I glanced to the table where the boy had just placed our plates on and sat down. I frowned, thinking I was missing something fairly important, and when he raised a dango to his mouth I realized what it was.

"Hey, wait a second!"

Startled, the white-haired boy looked at me, pausing with his arm in mid-air.

"Do you really want to eat these cold?" I asked him.

"Huh?" he made before it dawned on him, too. "Oh, right, sorry. Force of habit."

He laughed a little and I smiled at him, taking his and my plate and putting it in the microwave which of course started buzzing loudly as soon as I had turned it on.

"Old habits die hard, huh?" I commented, to which he responded with a humming sound to show that he agreed. A minute later the microwave stopped buzzing and made a loud sound before going quiet, indicating that the food was ready. I took our plates out and placed them in front of us on the table.

"Say, for how long have you lived on the street?" I asked while sitting down opposite of him.

He looked at me for a second before glancing downwards to the side, not meeting my eyes. Bad choice of topic, I supposed.

"Don't worry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I'm just curious, that's all."

That seemed to reassure him – he gave a small smile before digging in. Inwardly sighing, I looked down at my plate and took a bite myself.

Chewing, I looked up, which I found out had been a mistake. I nearly choked on my food and started coughing when I saw that not only the mountain of dango on the thief's plate was shrinking rapidly, but the white-haired boy himself was.. devouring the food in a way that suggested that either he hadn't eaten in weeks or his stomach was a black hole.

He looked up to watch my reaction, not pausing in the slightest, but I could see a smug smile playing around his lips. I pouted slightly. He probably knew that I would react like this.

I took a few more bites before looking up again to find that his plate was in fact already empty.

"Are you serious?" I exclaimed, disbelieving. "Where do you put all this food?"

The boy just shrugged, laughing a little. I shook my head in wonderment, absentmindedly taking another bite while watching the thief.

Almost laughing when I noticed how his eyes were fixated on my plate, I waved a hand in front of his face to snap him out of it. It worked pretty well seeing as how he blinked in confusion and looked at me questioningly. I chuckled and asked him if he wanted to eat the rest of my food, too, which earned me a surprised look out of huge gray eyes.

"You mean it?" he asked, eyeing my plate out of the corner of his eyes.

In reply I pushed my plate towards him, saying "Sure, go ahead. I'm not that hungry, anyway."

He flashed me a grateful smile before happily digging in, me watching his rather interesting eating habits in amusement.

When he was finished eating, he leaned back and heaved a content sigh, causing me to chuckle slightly which in turn made him blush a little.

"Hey, you?" I started Then I realized that it sounded a bit rude and added, "Uh.. I mean, Post-It thief?" He raised an eyebrow at me, making me feel like an idiot. "Gahh, nevermind. Can you tell me your name first? Or do you want me to call you Post-It thief forever?"

He looked at me, seeming to be contemplating if he should tell me his name or not. _I_ didn't know what kind of harm it would do for me to know his name, but he seemed reluctant to tell me for some reason.

"Come on, don't be that way. I want to know what to call you! I told you my name too, it's just fair to tell me yours!" I pouted.

When the boy still didn't say anything, I stood up and put our plates in the sink, grinning evilly as an idea formed in my mind. "I could always think up other nicknames for you instead, you know? I don't want to keep calling you a thief when you're supposed to stop stealing from now on."

The thief looked at me incredulously, having to crane his neck a little for he was still sitting and I was standing next to him. I was a considerably taller than him anyway, and he was practically drowning in my clothes, so it was crystal clear for me what kind of nickname the little guy would get.

Ruffling through his soft white locks half affectionately, half mockingly, I said with a huge grin on my face, "I guess I'll just have to call you beansprout, then!" I could've sworn I saw his eye twitch in annoyance. Hit a nerve, had I?

"My name is Allen, stupid rabbit!" Oooh, Bull's-eye.

"Is that so?" My grin turned smug. Allen, huh? It fit him, somehow.

"..Yes..." he muttered, pouting.

"Okay then, _Allen._" I said, deciding to call him by his name for now but making sure to remember that calling him beansprout is a lot of fun,too. "What I had originally wanted to ask you was, would you like to eat with Lenalee tomorrow? You know, the Chinese girl that gave you the plastic bag yesterday. She's a fantastic cook."

His eyes lit up at the name – apparently he had remembered it from my letter –, making me guess that he had taken a liking to her immediately. No surprise, it was Lenalee after all, and everyone liked Lenalee.

The boy – Allen, I reminded myself – nodded happily.

"Alright then, I'll-" I was interrupted by a rather loud yawn from Allen. "Tired?"

He smiled sheepishly at me, scratching his head.

"Let's go to sleep then – yawn – shall we?" I said, once again noticing how contagious yawning was.

Allen nodded, rubbing his eyes while standing up from his seat at the small kitchen table. I gently pushed him forward, hitting the light switch as we left the kitchen.

While the white-haired boy got ready to sleep on the sofa, I noticed that I didn't have any sleepwear for him and only possessed one toothbrush. Sweatdropping, I told myself to deal with these issues tomorrow and just let them be for tonight.

I turned off the stereo and turned around to find Allen nestled down in the blankets, eyes already closed and a content smile on his face. I walked over to the sofa and patted his head lightly.

"Good night, Allen." I said with a smile before turning to walk out of the room. I hit the light switch and was just about to close the door when I heard a quiet murmur behind me.

"G'night, Lavi..." My smile broadening, I quietly let the door to the living room click shut.

"Sweet dreams..."

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><p><em>. Chapter 8 End . <em>

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><p><em>AN: _Soo, I hope you liked it, and I'm sorry if Allen is acting a little unpredictable here... I am trying to keep him IC, but yeah. Sorry if it sucks.

Oh, are there any characters you'd like to see in the story? I already have ideas for more Lenalee and Komui, also for Kanda, Miranda, Jerry and maybe Marie, as well as for a few surprise characters... ;) but if you want to see someone specifically, feel free to tell me and maybe even add an idea on how to introduce them :) I look forward to your suggestions! :3

/random ramblings/  
>I've watched and read Katekyo Hitman Reborn! lately, it's great! All the hotties.. *drools*... xD I'm currently reading all sorts of KHR! fanfiction, so if you have a suggestion I'd be happy to hear it!<br>Has anyone watched The Hunger Games yet? I watched it on Friday :) If so, how did you like it?  
>Gaaah, I want Hoshino-sensei to draw faster already DDD:<br>Oh yeah, if anyone has questions for me or if you're just bored, I have a formspring account (same name as here) so feel free to stop by and ask me something ;)


	9. Allen Home Alone

_A/N:_ Hey guys! Guess who's back with a new chapter for you? It's meeee~ (Duh.)  
>Anyway, before I say anything else - <strong>thank you all for your support! I never thought I'd write such a long story, and I never ever would've dreamed of receiving THIS many reviews - 93! guys, are you crazy? x'DD So I decided to give the 100th reviewer a little present! The person who writes the 100th review (and is not an anon) will be asked to give me a prompt for a Laven OS that I will write for herhim and, of course, dedicate it to her/him, too :)**

Now that that's said, I really want to thank you all for being so nice to me all the time - your feedback never fails to cheer me up! So this chapter, although not very eventful in my opinion (and I'm SO sorry for that T_T) is by far the longest chapter I've ever written for this story and writing it was more than exasperating at times. Still I did my best to fight against writer's block and being totally unhappy with it and eventually managed to finish it today despite having had a really rough day due to an emergency in my family - and I think I'm okay with how it turned out now xD

I dedicate this chapter to _EdwardElricAllenWalker _because she put up with listening to me whine about the chapter being too boring and my two friends who will probably never read this for reading the finished version and convincing me that it isn't boring at all xD (I mean seriously, how am I myself supposed to know if it's boring? It's not like there's any suspense for me xD)

So guys, this is my Easter present for you, I hope you enjoy it! :) Happy Easter everyone! :D

**(Oh yeah, I almost forgot: We have POV changes in this chapter, so pay attention to the scene breaks if you're confused - they have the name of the person whose POV it will be next in them ;) I think the POV changes are kinda obvious either way, though..)**

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><p><strong><em> Chapter 9 – Allen Home Alone<em>**

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><p>As soon as I had entered my bedroom, I changed into what I usually wore to sleep – boxers and a baggy t-shirt – and let myself fall onto my bed. Eyes slowly closing I began to reminisce about the events of the evening. So much had happened after I had hung up on Lenal-<p>

My eyes snapped open immediately. _Shit! Lenalee!_

I jumped up from the bed and hurriedly left my bedroom while trying to be quiet at the same time. Rummaging through the pockets of my coat I finally found what I had been looking for – my cellphone. Grabbing the little thing I returned to my bedroom just as fast as I had left it, making sure to close the door behind me. Luckily I had her number on my speed dial, so it took me but a second to call her. She picked up almost immediately and her next words made it quite obvious that she had been waiting for my call for a while now.

"Lavi! Where the hell were you? Are you okay? Why didn't you call me until now? I was worried sick, you idiot!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, Lena-lady. I'm fine, it's just that I was... occupied." I told her, trying to sound reassuring.

"Calm down? I've been waiting for-"

"I said I'd call you later, not when exactly, you know," I interrupted her, "but I'm sorry, I really couldn't call you back earlier than this."

My apology seemed to have been what she needed to hear to calm down.

Now curious, she asked, "Eh, you couldn't? Why?"

I grinned happily even though she couldn't see me. "Guess who's sleeping on my sofa right now?"

"EH?" I held the cellphone away from my ear to avoid serious damage to my eardrums, laughing out loud at her shocked exclamation. "Is he – but I thought you – didn't he – weren't you just – gah, I don't get it! Explain!"

I chuckled before smiling fondly. "Yeah, he's here." I explained to her what had happened after her call and spent the next minutes updating her about the events of this evening.

"... and after I got him to tell me his name I asked him if he wanted to eat with you tomorrow – I thought you wouldn't mind since you definitely want to meet him, don't you? – and then he yawned so I told him to go to sleep, and that's about it. I called you immediately after," I finally finished my explanations.

Lenalee was silent for a moment, probably progressing everything I had told her. Then she said, "Of course I want to meet... uh, you didn't tell me his name yet, did you?"

I laughed. "Ah, sorry.. His name's Allen. And his hair is actually really white. Strange, huh? I wonder how it got that way... the color looks too pure for it to be bleached..."

"Allen, hm? What an adorable name. It fits him, don't you think?" Lenalee mused.

"I suppose.. So is it okay if we eat lunch with you tomorrow?"

"Of course it is!" she replied energetically, "What do you think I should cook?"

"As long as you make a huge amount, anything will be fine – I think so at least, his eating habits kinda suggest that either his stomach is a black hole or he loves to eat more than anything," I chuckled, "Plus, you know how great your cooking is. He'll love it no matter what you make!"

"Aww, you know I'm not that good yet. I still have a lot to learn-"

"Don't be so modest, Lena-lady," I interrupted her ramblings, "you're insulting Jerry's teaching abilities here!"

"Well.. I suppose you're right, Jerry really is a great teacher," Lenalee admitted.

I grinned, knowing that I had successfully stopped her from further denying her awesome cooking skills, and silently made my way over to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I often did that when I talked to her this late and she had long stopped commenting on it.

"Anyway, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with him tomorrow morning – I have to go to work after all. Any suggestions?" I asked her while applying toothpaste on my toothbrush.

Sometimes I really wanted to hit myself for not thinking ahead. Why didn't I ask him to come meet me on a Saturday night instead of a Friday? Then I wouldn't have to go to work the day after...

"Hmmm... Well, if you don't want to leave him alone, why don't you just take him with you?" Lenalee suggested.

"Ehh? To the bookstore? No way, I can't do that." I mumbled with the toothbrush still in my mouth, somehow managing to be understood regardless. _Bookman would probably kill me if I did..._

"Why not?" I could practically see her frowning as she said that.

This time, I spit out and gurgled, only replying after I was done with my evening routine. "I... kinda haven't told him about Allen yet?"

"Oh, I see. It would probably be better if he's not present when you explain the situation to Bookman... all that violence could scare the poor boy off." I heard her chuckle softly and grimaced at the thought of how often the old panda would whack me in the head when I told him tomorrow.

"I guess so...," I laughed awkwardly, "so what other options do we have? Could you watch over him tomorrow? He seems to like you." I walked back to my bedroom after I said that, taking care to be quiet so I wouldn't wake the boy who was currently sleeping soundly on my sofa.

"Eh? I'm sorry Lavi, but I already have plans for the morning... I can't reschedule it, either.. I'm sorry.." she said, her tone apologetic.

I flopped down on my bed, slipping under the covers and leaning back, one hand behind my head and my cellphone pressed to my ear with the other. "Don't worry about it, Lena-lady. I suppose I'll just have to leave him alone for a few hours, then... At least that way he can look around the apartment without feeling watched, ne?" I chuckled, thinking back to how timid the white-haired boy had been.

"That's true," Lenalee agreed, "if you look at it that way, it's probably best to let him stay in your apartment while you're away. Plus if you let someone watch over him, he'll think you don't trust him – I mean, of course you shouldn't trust him fully just yet but it's good to let him think that you do so he feels more at ease, right?"

"Right. And like I said, if I come home to an empty apartment with all my valuable stuff gone, I'm the one who's at fault and I won't come crying to you~" I told her nonchalantly, inwardly feeling bad because I couldn't find a trace of distrust towards the former thief in me after just one evening of being with him. I knew I probably should be worried about my stuff, but the only thing I was worried about when thinking of leaving him alone in my apartment was that he wouldn't be there when I came back.

"I'll hold you to your word," my Chinese friend told me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "So, I'll see you at lunch tomorrow?"

"Yup, definitely. Prepare a huge load of food, trust me!" I said, grinning while already looking forward to the face she'll make when she sees the beansprout's eating habits.

"I will, I will," she laughed, obviously not taking my comment about Allen's appetite very serious. Then she said, affectionately, "Goodnight then, stupid rabbit."

"G'night, Lena-lady!" I smiled fondly as I called her by my favorite nickname for her.

Snapping the phone shut, I placed it on my nightstand and set the alarm for the next day before turning around again to find a comfortable sleeping position. Late night phone calls like this one with Lenalee always helped me to clear my head while telling her about the stuff that happened during the day, so I didn't waste any more time reminiscing about it now and fell asleep quickly, a smile on my face and my mind full of thoughts about my new housemate.

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The annoying sound of my alarm going off marked the start of the new day. Groaning, I blindly felt around for my alarm clock and hit the snooze button before grabbing my phone and holding it to my face. With tired eyes I blinked against the light coming in through the half-closed blinds of my bedroom window, trying to make out the time on the display without having my eyes tear up from the brightness. 6:02 am. I had to be at the bookstore at 8 am, meaning I had a little more than one and a half hour to finish with my morning routine and prepare some things for my little ex thief. I groaned at it being so early but then grinned slightly as I realized that I would be able to see Allen's sleeping face on my way to the kitchen.

I dragged myself to my feet and scuffled out of my bedroom, rubbing my eyes as I entered the narrow hallway. Stifling a yawn I opened the door to the living room as quietly as possible, taking in my surroundings. It was dark in the room, but not dark enough to not be able to see. Light entered the room through the cracks in the blinds and flooded in from the open doorway that lead to the already illuminated kitchen.

I decided to take the 'long route' to the kitchen so I could take a peek at my sleeping beansprout while I rounded the sofa and took care to keep my steps as quiet as I could so I wouldn't wake him. The smile that had found its way to my face somewhere along the way faltered for a moment when I noticed that Allen was lying with his face buried in the soft cushions, making it impossible for me to see his sleeping expression. It only took me a few seconds to let out a quiet chuckle at the position the boy was in, though – sprawled out on the sofa with his body only half hidden by the jumbled blanket.

Grinning happily to myself I entered the kitchen and prepared my breakfast, deciding not to wake my new housemate. It was Saturday after all, why not let him sleep in? It was way too early to wake him right now anyway.

After my breakfast I quietly crossed the living room once again, carefully closing the door behind me before entering the bathroom. About half an hour later my morning routine was completed and I left the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, making my way to my bedroom to choose an outfit for the day. When I was dressed and finished with everything I had to do before leaving, it was only about 7 am, meaning I still had roughly half an hour before I had to leave.

Deciding to check up on the beansprout once again, I entered the living room and sneaked over to the sofa. Leaning over the backrest slightly instead of rounding the sofa like the last time I took a look at him, a grin once again made its way to my face upon seeing the little guy. He had shifted a little in his sleep, part of his peaceful face now visible from my perspective.

Then I paused in surprise.

His right arm was hidden beneath the blanket while his left arm was leaning against the backrest. His too-big sleeve must've slid down overnight, for it exposed his left hand as well as a part of his arm. But that was not exactly what had caused me to pause – what startled me was the color of said arm. It was of a red color that reminded me of blood, his fingernails were so completely black that it couldn't possibly be from nail polish, and the texture of the arm looked scaly and rough.

Never in my life had I seen something like that before, and I wasn't sure how to react. How on earth did this happen? Did something happen to him in the past or was he born with it? What was its cause? Did it hurt? Has it always looked like this? Did he have feeling in the arm? How would it feel if I touched it?

So many questions were swirling through my head that I didn't register that my hand had moved on its own until I was almost touching Allen's left wrist. Hesitating for a moment, I decided that a light touch wouldn't do any harm and closed the distance between us. The skin was warm, albeit a bit rough, I noticed as I trailed my fingers along his thin wrist. I was fascinated by it, but I had to jerk away immediately and hide behind the backrest when the arm I had just been touching suddenly moved.

_Shit,_ I thought, _did I wake him up?_

Heart pounding loudly, I stayed crouched down behind the sofa while hearing the boy groan quietly and shift his position. I listened intently for a few minutes, the only sound in the room being my soft breathing and his even, deep breaths, before I was completely sure that he had fallen back asleep.

Sighing softly, I straightened up again and glanced at the clock. I still had plenty of time before I had to leave, so I let my gaze wander around the room, deciding to not touch the boy's arm again and stop staring at it, too. Soon my eye fell on a small, square object that lay on the cabinet next to the telephone and a grin made its way onto my face.

This was going to be fun.

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About half an hour later I straightened up from where I had just leaned down, right in front of the sofa and next to the small coffee table. I smiled fondly at the boy who was snuggled up with the blanket and still fast asleep. He had once again shifted in his sleep and I could now see his sleeping face, which by the way was really cute. Now that I could see his unguarded face I realized for the first time how anxious and wary he had really been during the time he had spent with me.

"I'm definitely going to make him feel at ease with me." I muttered under my breath as I quietly left the house for work.

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I blinked, groaned at the sudden brightness that greeted my sleepy eyes and closed them again immediately, deciding to wait until I was a little more awake before I tried to see something. Had my home always been this bright in the morning?

I was vaguely aware that I was lying on my right side, so I lazily reached out with my left arm to support myself when I shifted into a more upright position. What I didn't expect was for my hand to meet not the hard floor that should've been there but air instead, and the weight that I had already put on my arm sent me falling over and landing shoulder first on the ground.

"Waah!" I yelped as I fell.

Sitting up, I rubbed my now sore shoulder with an "Owww..." and forced my eyes to open, looking around my unfamiliar surroundings in panic for a second before yesterday's events came back to me. _Right_, I thought,_ this is where I'll live from now on. No reason to panic. _Then I added sarcastically, _No, no reason to panic at all, I just agreed to living together with a guy I don't know anything about. Everything's fine, definitely no reason to question my sanity. _

Heaving a sigh, I hoped that my little stunt just now had gone unnoticed and stood up, grabbing the edge of the coffee table for support. As I did so a yellow square on the table caught my eye. A Post-it note?

I detached the note from the coffee table and flopped down on the soft sofa before reading it.

_'Morning, sleepyhead! I don't know what time it will be when you wake up, but I forgot to tell you that I have to go to work today. I'll be back at around 12:15, be a good boy until then, ne?_

_-Lavi'_

Ah, so I was home alone. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed an arrow drawn on the right corner of the note and flipped the piece of paper over to find more writing on the backside.

_'Make yourself at home, okay? You live here now, remember?'_

There was a little rabbit sticking out his tongue messily drawn on the paper, which made me chuckle lightly. _Stupid rabbit_, I thought, though referring to the redhead rather than to the drawing.

_'P.S. You look adorable when you're asleep.'_

I felt the blood rush to my face at the last sentence and was happy that no one was in the apartment to see me blushing. Then my eyes widened. He had seen me sleeping.

I immediately checked my left sleeve and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was luckily still hiding my deformed arm. _Phew. Who knows what would've happened if he had seen it. _I inwardly reprimanded myself for not being more careful – if I didn't make sure that my arm was hidden all the time, who knows for how long I'd be able to stay here?

Slightly surprised I realized that I already wanted to continue living here with Lavi. _I can't let my guard down just yet_, I told myself for the umpteenth time since yesterday. Countless times I had found myself relaxing in the redhead's presence and every single time I had forced myself to stay on guard – in the end I had been totally irrational because of my internal debate.

I chuckled softly as I remembered how random I had acted the previous evening. Lavi must've had a hard time dealing with my mood swings.

I was tempted to lean back against the sofa's soft cushions and just enjoy the comfort a little while longer, but one glance at the clock hanging on the wall convinced me otherwise. It was about 10 am already and since I wasn't planning on letting Lavi see me sleeping when he came back in roughly two hours I decided that I'd rather explore the house while he wasn't present.

I stretched and stood up, and for a second I stood there, wondering what to do first, when suddenly my stomach growled loudly. _The kitchen it is, then_.

As I entered the light-flooded kitchen I was greeted by more Post-it notes attached to several cupboards as well as the fridge. So now _he_ was the one using the notes? Oh, the irony. I smirked – I had to admit that it was a funny idea.

I approached the kitchenette and read the different notes. The one on the fridge said,

_'A little beansprout like you has to eat properly to gain a few more inches, so don't be shy and feel free to eat whatever you want.'_

My eye twitched at the nickname. Lavi was lucky that he wasn't at home right now.

The other notes basically just pointed out where to find what I needed for a breakfast – a plate or bowl, cornflakes, a glass, cutlery and the like. I opened the cupboard where the cornflakes were supposed to be just to find that they had been placed on the highest shelf, just out of my reach. I wanted to put it off as bad luck and rose up on my tiptoes while stretching and reaching out, but I was still too short to reach the cornflakes, as much as I hated to admit it. What I did notice though was another Post-It note attached to the back of the lowest shelf. I growled in annoyance as I read it.

_'If the cornflakes are too high up, why don't you use a chair, shortstack?'_

The writing was once again accompanied with a drawing of a rabbit with its tongue stuck out. That guy really liked mocking me, huh? Well, maybe I deserved it for the comment I had made about his bike once. One thing was sure, though – I would not use that damn chair to reach the cornflakes. _I'll raid the fridge instead_, I decided, an evil grin making its way onto my face at the thought.

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About half an hour later I closed the door of the fridge with a grin and looked around the kitchen to see if I had forgotten to clean up anything after my extensive breakfast. Finding nothing, I turned and left the kitchen while rubbing my now filled stomach. Once I was back in the living room, I pulled up the blinds to let the daylight flood into the room. I then proceeded to make my "bed" before leaving the room and entering the hallway. Turning left I made my way to the bathroom.

Inside I found more Post-it notes telling me to use the toothbrush Lavi had found (he had bought a package with two toothbrushes once and didn't put the other one to use until now, or so it seemed) and to feel free to shower and use the redhead's stuff. There were no mocking comments about my shortness again though, only a note saying that he's really sorry that he doesn't have a change of clothes for me that would fit me so I'd have to make do with the clothes I was wearing.

I mentally shrugged at that – I had worn the same clothes for more than two days in a row when I was still living on the street, so that didn't really bother me. It would still be nice to have clothes that actually fit me, though.

After I was done with brushing my teeth and using the toilet, I made sure that the door was locked before undressing, neatly folding the clothes I had worn and placing them on the closed toilet lid.

I stepped under the shower and turned on the water, adjusting the temperature as I did so. As soon as I was satisfied with the water's temperature, I relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of water running down my body. I sighed contently, happy that I could use a normal shower again instead of having to use the showers at the local public pool whenever I got a hold of some pocket money to get in there.

I took a bit of Lavi's shower gel and let my thoughts wander as the scent filled the air. Yesterday evening had been quite the eventful one; even though I kept telling myself to stay guarded and didn't know what to expect from that eye-patch wearing redhead, I couldn't deny one thing – he was very easy to get along with.

I had been prepared for all kinds of bad things, but nothing like that had happened at all. Lavi was a nice guy – at least that was the impression I got from the previous evening. I didn't know why exactly I was so sure that he wouldn't do anything to me after spending just a few hours with him, but there was just something in the way he acted that suggested that he had picked me up because – for whatever reason – he cared.

I was usually pretty good at judging people, and Lavi seemed to be honest and as if all he wanted was for me to feel welcome.

I didn't really know how to deal with that, since I didn't want to drop my guard this easily – who knows what would happen if I trust him blindly and he suddenly betrays me? I didn't want to find out, as unlikely as the possibility seemed to me.

On the other hand – he had left me alone in his apartment. Me, a (former) thief, who had still been living on the streets less than a day ago, who had robbed him multiple times, who could surely use the money he had in his house. Either he was crazy or he just wanted to trust me. Wanted to show me that he wanted to trust me. If Lavi put so much blind trust in me, shouldn't I give him a chance too?

I really wanted to try and trust the stupid rabbit. Everything he did seemed to be for the sake of making me comfortable, and I couldn't bring myself to dislike him no matter how often I told myself that it could still be a trap despite not looking like one. And another thing I had to admit was that I really liked the comfort living with Lavi brought along with it.

If I wanted to back out of this, I had to do it now – otherwise I'd get too used to the comfort and wouldn't want to leave. I could search for the place where Lavi hid his savings, grab them and run away to never see him again – but I didn't want to. Not only did the redhead trust me despite my background, I also didn't want to steal anymore and living with Lavi opened up the path to a better future for me. Wouldn't it be stupid to ignore this chance? I had already decided to take this chance the evening before. Now I was going to pull through until the end, that I had decided for myself. Keep walking.

I finished showering and grabbed a towel, drying myself off before grabbing the clothes I had put on the toilet lid earlier. I sniffed them to check if they still smelled okay, which they did in my opinion, but I sprayed some of Lavi's deodorant onto them just to make sure. I didn't want to smell bad when I met Lenalee and her family later on, after all.

After I had dressed again I left the bathroom with a towel around my neck.

"I'll try to start trusting him," I said to myself before I took off to explore the rest of the apartment while Lavi wasn't at home.

_xxxxxxxxxAxLxLxExNxxxxxxxxx_

I had taken my time to look around and decided that I liked Lavi's apartment. He even had a small balcony connected to his bedroom that I was sure was an awesome place to spend time in the summer if you wanted to enjoy the good weather, and overall the rooms gave off a homey feel. The apartment was surprisingly clean despite being occupied by only a single male person, only a few things were scattered around here and there. Most of the things lying around were books, I had noticed. The shelves and cupboards in Lavi's living room were also filled to the brim with books of all sizes, for the most part ones about history. I had grabbed one whose spine looked interesting just to find out that it was in a different language.

Right now I was sitting on the comfy sofa, remote in my hand for the first time since I didn't know when, and lazily zapped through the different programs. Now that I didn't have to work hard everyday to make sure I stayed alive anymore I had found myself with no idea about what to occupy myself with and had eventually decided to turn on the TV.

The sound of keys rattling had me perk up and hurriedly check if my arm was still covered up by the long sleeve.

"I'm home!" I heard the redhead call from the hallway. _Well_, I thought, _I decided to try trusting him, so I'll do my best to act like I would if I wasn't partly distrustful and partly scared of being thrown out. Just act normally, Allen... it won't be that hard; Lavi is easy to get along with, after all. _

"Allen?" Lavi asked as he entered the living room.

I pressed the off button on the remote and turned to look at him. His hair looked a little tousled (or rather, more tousled than it had looked yesterday), so it was probably windy outside. I smiled brightly at him and said, "Welcome back, Lavi." which obviously came as a surprise to him, judging by his facial expression.

I chuckled at the face he was making and he grinned at me, bringing a small smile to my face. He took in my appearance, obviously noticing the towel that was still around my neck, for he asked, "I take it you found my notes?"

"I did," I confirmed, and then my smile went dark. "The one inside the shelf, too, by the way."

Lavi laughed nervously at that, hands raised defensively. "Hey, you can be really scary if you want to, you know that? It was just a joke!"

"I know," I said, smiling sweetly.

Lavi stretched, heaving a sigh. "Ahh, work was exhausting.. Now I'm thirsty... You want something to drink, too?" he asked, already on his way to the fridge. I grinned, knowing that he couldn't see it, and told him no.

A few seconds later Lavi reentered the living room with a Post-it note in his hand. "Oi, beansprout..."

"What is it?" I asked innocently but couldn't stop my eye from twitching in annoyance at the nickname.

"Are you trying to make fun of me?" he asked, sounding angry but looking more amused than anything else.

"Me? Of course not, I'd never do that! After all, you'd never make fun of me either, right?" I replied with a sickly sweet smile on my face.

"Why you little..."

Before I could react Lavi had pounced on me and was tickling me without mercy. I began laughing so hard that soon a few tears were escaping my eyes and tried to get him to stop, but to no avail – he continued torturing me, laughing all the while. During our tickle battle (which I was losing _very_ badly) we somehow managed to topple over and land on the floor, but that didn't stop Lavi from tickling me until I was unable to put up any resistance anymore.

"M..mercy!" I panted after a few minutes, completely out of breath. We were lying on the ground, him straddling me and pinning my arms down with one hand while tickling me with the other. He stopped tickling me and leaned down so our faces were only inches apart.

"Oh?" he breathed, still grinning. "You give up?"

I didn't answer – I was busy filling my lungs with air again and the sudden closeness was a little confusing.

"I take that as a yes.", he commented my silence, "So, will you tell me where you hid the food?" he asked me, referring to the nice little Post-it note saying _'Thank you for the food! I'm sorry for stealing it.' _that was lying on the floor next to us along with the towel that had previously been around my neck, looking a little crumpled due our tickle fight.

"Umm... I ate it?" I more asked then answered, not sure if he'd take that well.

At my words, the redhead leaned back in shock. "You what?" he exclaimed, appalled, "That amount of food usually lasts me a whole week! Where the hell do you put all that stuff?"

"I have fast metabolism, okay?" I told him, a little defensive.

"Oh well... I think we'll have to go shopping after lunch, then." he just said, chuckling and scratching his head. I watched as he stood up and bent down slightly to hold out his hand to me. I grabbed it with my right hand and allowed him to pull me up. He pulled a little too hard though, probably misjudging my weight, so I crashed into him and stumbled back a step, slightly dizzy from the impact. I looked up at his face when I heard him let out a laugh and saw him smile broadly at me.

"Come on, let's go eat lunch." he told me, ruffling my hair. This time I didn't flinch, I just made a face before grinning back at him.  
>"Yeah, let's go. I'm hungry." I agreed.<p>

"Again? But you ate just about everything in my fridge a few hours ago!" Lavi exclaimed.

"So what?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Oh boy, what did I get myself into..." I heard him murmur as he walked ahead of me towards the front door.

I chuckled softly as I caught up to him, sticking my tongue out at him as he turned to look at me. Lavi in turn shook his head at me and opened the door before making room for me to go out first.

"Ladies and beansprouts first," he told me mockingly.

"Stupid rabbit," I muttered under my breath as I walked past him with a tiny smile on my face, and seconds later the door slammed shut behind us.

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><p><em>. Chapter 9 - Fin .<em>

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><p><em>AN: _Sooooo... thank you for reading, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed it! x3 See you next chapter :3


	10. Lunch with the Lees

_A/N: _Hello everybody! :D Did you miss me? xD Sorry for taking so long once again, I hope the chapter will make up for it somehow ^^° For those who aren't as crazy a Laven fangirl as me and don't press the refresh button on their always opened tab (that shows all completed LavixAllen fanfics of course) multiple times a day, I want to point out that the Laven oneshot in celebration of my 100th review is already uploaded! It's called "_May I have this Dance?_" and it's of course dedicated to the 100th reviewer, **Hinoshi-Jino**! Again, congratulations :) So if you guys haven't read it yet but would like to, check my profile! :D

Anyway, since I was also busy writing that oneshot it took me quite a while to finish this, I hope you didn't wait too long :3

Enjoy!

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 10 – Lunch with the Lees<strong>_

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><p>As soon as the door had fallen shut behind us, I waited for Lavi to lock it and lead the way since I didn't know where Lenalee lived. As he passed me I raised an eyebrow at him not wearing a coat (I would've worn one if I had one) and grabbed him by his bright orange scarf, making him pause his movement suddenly, accompanied by a fake choking sound that caused the corners of my lips to curl up slightly.<p>

"What's wrong?" he asked me as he turned to look at me.

"Don't you need your coat?" I questioned, confused that he didn't seem to have noticed that he wasn't wearing it.

"Huh?" he asked, surprised, but then he began to laugh. I raised an eyebrow at him once again and waited for him to explain himself, which he did soon after. "No, I don't need it. But thanks for your concern, beansprout." Ignoring the low growl I let out at the nickname, he continued, "Come on, they're probably already waiting for us."

I felt him grab my arm and before I knew it he pulled me up the stairs. _Up?_ I frowned.

When Lavi pressed the doorbell of an apartment one level above his, it finally clicked and I mentally facepalmed. _Of course_, I thought, _why else would we go up instead of down?_

Suddenly nervous I tried to fix my hair, which I realized probably looked messy after the tickle battle earlier, and took a step back to inconspicuously hide behind Lavi. If he noticed, he didn't say anything, so we just waited for the door to open, which it did a few seconds later.

"Yo, Lena-lady!" Lavi greeted the Chinese girl that stood in the doorway with a warm smile.

"Hey Lavi," she greeted before turning to me, smiling gently. "Allen, right?"

When had Lavi.. a_h, probably when he asked her if we could come over for lunch. Oh well_, I thought and nodded. At my nod she held out her hand.

"Lavi probably already told you, but anyway... my name's Lenalee. Nice to meet you."

I took her hand and shook it, smiling at her. "Nice to meet you, too."

Her smile widened and she stepped aside to let us in. "Lunch is almost ready, by the way. I hope you're hungry."

"You bet we are! Allen here emptied my fridge while I was gone," Lavi whined as he walked past her, causing me to follow him inside, chuckling slightly. "Hey, where's Komui?" The redhead in front of me asked.

"He's asleep on the couch right now," Lenalee replied from behind us as she closed the front door. "He stayed up late working on experiments, again..." At that she heaved a sigh, and Lavi joined in.

I frowned and then raised an eyebrow at them in confusion. Lenalee seemed to notice that, for she opened her mouth to say something, probably to explain, but Lavi interrupted her.

With a mischievous grin on his face, he said, "Come on, let's go wake him up!" and turned left into what I assumed was the living room. The apartments seemed to have a similar layout from what I could tell. I looked at Lenalee who just shook her head and shrugged before gesturing me to follow her.

Together we entered the living room where Lavi was currently standing in front of an occupied couch. The man on the couch had purple hair that probably stopped around his shoulders or a little above, it was hard to tell considering the position the man was in. He was probably in his late twenties or something and actually looked pretty handsome, I noticed, but I was distracted from taking in his appearance by Lavi, who bent down so he was close to Komui's face.

Before I could ask what he was doing, he whispered into the man's ear, "Hey, did you hear? Lenalee is getting married!" before hurriedly straightening back up again and taking a few step backs in caution.

I was just about to ask what that just now had been about when the man's eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet, frantically looking around until he spotted Lenalee, which he hugged around the waist while wailing excessively. I watched, dumbfounded, as desperate cries and wails of, "NOOOO! Lenaleeeee! My precious little Lenalee! How could you do that to me, your awesome big brother? You can't marry anyone, you're far too young for that, you have to stay with me! And the boy that is good enough for you to marry doesn't exist! LEEENALEEEEEEEEEE! How could youuuuu? Leeeeenaaaaaleeeeee!" resounded in the living room so loud it was deafening and Lenalee looked more pissed by the minute, shooting an angry glance towards a sheepishly laughing Lavi.

"Brother!" Lenalee finally exploded, whacking him in the head, _hard_.

Komui stopped wailing for a second to look up at his sister with teary eyes. "But Lenaleeeeee-"

"NO! Behave yourself, we have guests!" she reprimanded him, finally alerting the man to our presence. With tears still in his eyes he looked around, spotted Lavi, nodded absentmindedly in greeting, locked eyes with me and suddenly jumped to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at me and scaring me half to death with his yelling.

"YOU! It's you, isn't it? HOW _DARE_ YOU try to make my precious Lenalee marry you! You-" he walked towards me, causing me to hide behind Lavi, whose laugh seemed to have died on his lips.

I saw the redhead look back and forth between me and Komui (who was approaching me with a murderous look on his face) in panic and then send a helpless look towards Lenalee, who looked seriously annoyed by now.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Komui landed on the ground with a crash, Lenalee's foot on his head. I winced sympathetically and made a mental note to never get on the girl's bad side, but then I sighed in relief.

"Brother!" she yelled at the whimpering man on the ground, "Can't you just listen before you act? I told you that Lavi and the boy he took in would come over for lunch. What kind of first impression is that?" she sighed, "besides, I'm not getting married. Lavi just played a prank on you to get you to wake up." Then she muttered, "As usual..."

At this, the man immediately calmed down and straightened up, adjusting and dusting off his clothes before grabbing the glasses and strange-looking white hat that were lying on the coffee table. Moments later he had smoothed out his hair, donned his hat and was wearing his glasses. He then cleared his throat before looking at me with a bright and happy smile on his face that for some reason felt a little creepy to me considering the way he had acted seconds before.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you like that," he apologized and actually sounded sincere. "My name is Komui Lee, I'm Lenalee's brother. It's nice to meet you, uh..." he trailed off.

"Allen Walker," I responded automatically, my politeness winning against my suspicions, "It's nice to meet you, too," I told him, shaking his hand with a smile.

The smile turned strained as the pressure on my hand increased and I gritted my teeth at the pain. Komui on the other hand smiled creepily and told me in a low, threatening voice, "If you dare to even _think _of getting too close to my precious Lenalee, I'll-ugh!"

The grip on my hand loosened and disappeared a second later as Komui was sent flying, hitting the ground a few feet to my left with a nice imprint of a foot on his cheek.

"Brother, I thought I told you to behave yourself..." Lenalee sighed, fed up with her brother's crazy antics. Then she looked up, completely ignoring her brother, and told us, "I have to go back to the kitchen. Lavi, could you help me carry the food to the table?"

Lavi nodded and she turned to me, saying, "Allen, you could go get glasses and drinks if that's okay with you."

"Sure." I smiled at her and she returned the smile.

"I'll show you where everything is, then," she said as she made her way to the kitchen, passing a small dining table laid for four that was decorated nicely on the way there.

Lavi tugged on my sleeve and followed her, pulling me with him. The three of us entered the kitchen, leaving a sulking Komui behind on the living room floor. When we reentered the living room a minute later, placing the stuff we were carrying on the table, Komui had straightened up and looked composed and calm again, but still eyed me with a suspicious look on his face that made me shudder. What did I ever do to the guy? Stupid sister complex.

Lenalee moved to sit on the chair closest to the kitchen, her back facing the wall or rather the window that was framed by white curtains. I reached for the backrest of the chair closest to me, which happened to be the one opposite of Lenalee, but I was shoved aside by Mr. sister complex who enthusiastically pulled back the chair and gestured for Lavi to sit there.

I raised an eyebrow at his antics and decided that I wanted to find out if I had just imagined that just now, so I made my way around the table to the chair next to Lenalee. I could feel strands of my hair moving in the breeze that Komui caused as he passed me in a blur, basically throwing himself into the chair next to his sister.

_Well_, I thought, inwardly chuckling as I sat down on the remaining chair to Lavi's left, I_ guess he succeeded in making me sit the farthest from his sister, but it's impossible not to notice his intentions. I don't think I've ever met someone with a sister complex as great as this guy's. _

And I wasn't even interested in her in that sense, I just thought of her as a nice person. Besides, I was –

"This looks delicious as always!" Lavi exclaimed, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I agree, and it smells good, too!" I added with a smile.

"Thank you," Lenalee replied, happy about the compliment, while Komui shot me a look that promised never ending pain if I did so much as look at his sister wrongly. I sighed inwardly as I began shoveling food onto my plate. I was definitely not happy about sitting opposite that guy.

As soon as everyone had helped themselves to the food, we chorused, "Thanks for the food!" and I happily dug in, taking care to hide my left hand inside my sleeve as I did so.

"Woah, this is good! Are you a professional?" I exclaimed after I had swallowed my first bite, flashing Lenalee a smile.

"Well, I do work at a restaurant, but my cooking really isn't that good," the Chinese girl muttered with a smile on her face.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Komui shooting me a death glare, but I chose to ignore it and continued complimenting Lenalee for her cooking when she tried to be modest about it. I then continued eating even more enthusiastically, albeit trying to keep my good table manners so the others wouldn't think of me as rude and ill-mannered just because I loved to eat.

"So...," Komui began, looking at me and thus making me pause with my fork in midair, place it down again and focus on chewing the bite that was currently in my mouth so that I could reply to whatever he was going to say, "you're the homeless kid this guy here picked up?" He gestured to Lavi who raised an eyebrow at the both obvious and slightly offensive question.

I gulped when I noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere the purple-haired man had created with his question, but decided to answer anyway, even though I could feel some blood rush to my cheeks when he reminded me of where I came from. It wasn't as if I was happy about being homeless, after all.

"Ye-" I started with a (forced) polite smile on my face, only to be interrupted by Lavi.

"He's not homeless anymore, Komui," the redhead cut in, shooting the man an annoyed glance, "he lives in my apartment now."

"Well yes," Komui agreed, "but he was homeless until less than 24 hours ago. Have you been to a doctor with him yet? Who knows what kind of illnesses dirty street rats like him could have caught?"

I stared at him with my mouth open, dumbfounded.

"Brother!" Lenalee complained, shocked about her brother's offensive comment.

Lavi didn't say anything, but the indignant and angered look he gave him said more than enough.

"What?" Komui asked, "I just don't want him to infect my precious Lenalee with some sort of contagious illness!"

I was trying to keep my composure but wasn't able to conceal my shock completely as I said, "Sir, I can assure you that I am completely healthy, so would it be possible for you to refrain from being so rude towards me? I haven't done anything to you!"

"Not to me," he replied, "but you could do something to my Lenalee!"

"Brother, you will stop this immediately!" Lenalee exclaimed before shooting me an apologetic glance.

"But-" The purple-haired man was cut off by the loud sound of Lavi slamming his hands on the table.

"Komui, stop it! I don't think I've ever met anyone with a greater sister complex than yours. Listen, Allen is not interested in your sister! Now how about you begin treating him the way you should treat a guest?" Lavi exploded, clearly more than pissed.

I looked at him with wide eyes and watched him sit down again and resume eating. When he saw me looking at him he flashed me a small smile which I returned with a grateful one. I then glanced at Lenalee, who looked both guilty and annoyed. She glanced at her brother and I followed her gaze. Komui didn't look all too convinced, and Lenalee seemed to have noticed that too. She sent Lavi a "can't you do something about this?" look, who nodded and shot me a glance that must've said something along the lines of "I'm sorry, please play along" and told Komui,

"Yeah, he doesn't swing that way, Komui."

_I- ...what!_

I looked at the redhead in shock, glanced at Lenalee who had choked on her food and looked equally dumbfounded for a moment before regaining control over her facial expressions, nodding at Komui with a serious look on her face. I blushed and turned to look at Komui, who looked at me for confirmation. I nodded, still blushing, and he looked visibly relieved.

The four of us heaved a sigh of relief, though out of different reasons, and resumed eating.

I was just taking a sip of my drink when Komui quietly said to Lavi, "So that's why you took him in."

I spluttered and immediately apologized for it while Lavi was coughing once again and waving his arms around in defense, muttering something incomprehensible. _Ah, so Lavi is gay. _I tossed that new piece of information back and forth in my head for a while, drowning out the conversation just after Komui's apology for his earlier behavior, which I of course accepted (although I was still suspicious of him). I was surprised, but not freaked out. It would be kind of stupid if I of all people was freaked out about someone who was gay.

I watched Lavi out of the corner of my eyes. Messy, flaming red hair, gorgeous green eye, nicely built body clad in fashionable clothes, loveable crooked smile as he nonchalantly chatted with Lenalee, the eye-patch giving him an air of audaciousness... now that I thought about it, he was pretty handso- _No. Allen, don't go there._ _It will just make everything complicated._ I shook my head to clear it and tried to focus on the conversation again.

"...told him about it. See?" Lavi said, bending down a little to point at a bump on his head, causing Lenalee to erupt into a laughing fit.  
>"I told you he'd beat you up for not telling him sooner," she giggled.<br>"Lenalee, he _always _beats me up," the redhead shot back, grinning as he straightened up in his seat again. "It's just that he beat me up a bit more than usual today."

"True," she agreed. "So, what did he say about it?"

I saw Lavi's grin widen and raised an eyebrow. I assumed that they were talking about Lavi's boss or something, since the only place other than his and Lenalee's apartment that the redhead had been to since I was here had been at work, but I had no idea what this "it" was supposed to be.

"Well, he was angry at me for keeping my plans a secret, but he was actually nice enough to give me a bonus so I could pay my rent and buy the necessities for Allen!"

"Eh? Really?" Lenalee exclaimed. "Wow. Even though he hit you?"

"Yeah, although he'll probably make me work even harder for the next week. You know the old panda – it's just his way of showing affection... I think..." Lavi sweatdropped, and I did, too, even though I had no idea who exactly this panda guy was.

I had gathered that I was what Lavi had talked to him about, and I was reminded that me staying with the redhead was going to cost him a lot of money. I felt guilty about that, and I wondered if it would be possible for me to get a job, but who would employ a boy from the streets? Even if I had a home now, my past didn't change. I didn't have a proper education, it would be impossible for me to enroll somewhere without any documents and stuff, and to find a job like that... I inwardly sighed. I'd just have to try not to be too much of a burden.

"Speaking of buying stuff for Allen here," Lavi said, glancing at me before facing Lenalee again, "Are you free this afternoon? The three of us could go shopping together!"

I looked at Lenalee, who smiled happily and said, "That's a great idea! I'm in!"

"Okay," I agreed with a small smile on my face.

"Then it's settled, we're going shopping after lunch!" Lavi declared.

_xxxxxxxxxAxLxLxExNxxxxxxxxx_

The rest of lunch went by without any incidents, and Komui had proven to actually be a nice guy as long as he was somewhat convinced that you didn't want to "steal his precious little Lenalee away from him". He probably had a good reason for his giant sister complex, but I didn't want to pry, especially not since I didn't even know the two that well.

We spent our time talking about all sorts of things, for example I found out that Komui was a Science teacher at the local High School and liked to experiment and build robots in his free time, that Lenalee had learned how to cook from a man named Jerry and that the panda Lavi and Lenalee had mentioned was actually Lavi's guardian.

Everything I heard was new to me and just by watching the three interact it was obvious that they knew each other since who knows when – to be honest, I felt a little left out. All of them were very nice to me, though, and I could see that they were really trying to include me and it made me happy, but I knew it would take time.

When we were done eating, Lavi and I convinced Lenalee to let us help with the dishes. We decided to go shopping immediately after, so Lavi and I went back to Lavi's apartment, where the redhead grabbed his coat and I went to get my worn gloves and pulled them on before returning. Lavi said something along the lines of having to buy me a new pair of gloves and asked me if I wanted to borrow one of his jackets, but I was used to the cold anyway and didn't feel like looking ridiculous in a way-too-big coat. We met Lenalee in the hallway, she was wearing the same coat she had worn when I first met her. Together the three of us left the apartment building and allowed the Chinese girl to lead the way.

_xxxxxxxxxAxLxLxExNxxxxxxxxx_

"Try this one!" Lavi told me, placing another piece of clothing onto the pile in my arms. I had long given up trying to convince Lavi to not spend too much money on clothes and stuff for me – he was stubborn and didn't listen to me anyway, so there was no point in repeating the same argument again and again.

I groaned. "Lavi, can't I just go to the changing booth before the pile is too high for me to see where I'm going?"

"Aww, come on, don't be like that, beansprout. How about-" I only took one glance at the shirt he was holding up before cutting him off.

"Rejected!"

"But-"

"I'm not going to wear that."

"Lavi, let him go change already," Lenalee laughed, and I sent her a thankful glance. She smiled at us and said, "I'm going to take a look around for myself, okay? Lavi, you stay with Allen and help him decide what to buy."

"Sure thing," Lavi agreed, and I nodded, relieved that nothing more would be added to my pile.

Together the two of us made our way to the changing booths where the redhead held the swinging door to one of the booths open for me so I could place the pile of clothing inside.

"Show me once you're ready," he told me before allowing the door to swing back in place, leaving me alone in the small booth to choose the first piece of clothing to try on.

I emerged from the booth multiple times, each time sporting different outfits, and for the most part left it to Lavi to decide if they suited me or not. I hadn't allowed him to pick any clothes for me to try on that I didn't like, so I was basically fine with anything as long as it was comfortable. There were a few articles of clothing that didn't fit, though, but I just stayed inside the booth and tried something else instead if that was the case.

By now the clothes were divided into three piles – the pile of clothes Lavi had said we should buy, the pile of clothes that we would not take with us, and the pile of clothes that I hadn't tried on yet. The latter had already shrunk considerably and I was currently trying on a simple light gray long sleeved shirt. I was glad that we were only buying long sleeved stuff for the most part, except for a few t-shirts here and there, since it was still early in February and thus pretty cold outside – this way people (including one stupid rabbit) wouldn't give me strange looks for wearing my gloves all the time.

As I pulled the shirt over my head, I noticed that it was pretty small even though it was the same size as pretty much every shirt I had tried on until now, but didn't pay much mind to it before I heard a sound that suggested that trying to pull on it any further would be a bad idea.

_I better take it off again_, I said to myself and tried to do just that. I struggled with the shirt for a minute, but it wouldn't budge. _Great. Just great. _

I was stuck.

I continued struggling, but to no avail. After a few moments, I heard Lavi's voice from outside the booth.  
>"You okay in there, little buddy? You're taking a while."<p>

I groaned in frustration before admitting, "I'm kind of stuck."

"Do you need some help?" the redhead asked, and I could hear that he was grinning. Stupid rabbit. Suppressing a growl I muttered, "Yes please" and made room for him to open the swing door.

He pushed against the door and entered the small booth, letting the door swing closed behind him.

Lavi chuckled when he saw me and reminded me that I was probably looking fairly ridiculous with the collar of the shirt around my head and my arms not fully inside the tight sleeves, struggling to get out of the shirt without success.

I pouted even though he couldn't see me behind the shirt fabric. "Don't laugh at me!" I complained, but it only elicited more chuckles.

"Could you please hurry and get it off me?" I asked, half hopeful and half annoyed.

"But why? I think it suits you" Lavi commented before bursting out laughing, causing me to let out a low growl.

"Thanks. I'd still like to get it off, though."

"Well, if you insist, _of course _I will undress you~" he said in a suggestive tone and then laughed.

I was quite sure that I was blushing, but I chose not to reply in hopes of him pulling the damn piece of clothing off me already if I didn't make conversation with him.

"Okay, hold on a second," Lavi told me and I felt him grab the hem of the shirt that was somewhere around my neck area, pulling gently to get it off. When it didn't work properly, he pulled a little harder and I tried to stay where I was, which eventually resulted in him stumbling backwards a few steps with the shirt in hand and me standing there topless with my bare back against the wall.

I exhaled loudly. It felt good to have my head and arms free of all annoying fabric. "Phew... Thanks, Lavi."

"You're wel-" he stopped for a split second and looked at me before continuing, "...come."

What was wrong all of a sudden? I didn't know. I followed his gaze and my eyes widened.

_Shit._

I hid my arms behind my back, tears forming in my eyes. "Don't look at me!" Lavi only stared at my outburst, dumbfounded. "Get out of here!" I yelled at him, panicked, and shoved a startled Lavi out of the swinging door. "Don't come in here again!"

As soon as he was outside, I sank to my knees, a few tears escaping my eyes, and stared at my hands. My gloveless hands.

He had seen it.

He had seen the one thing I hadn't wanted him to see. My hideous arm. _He had seen it. _That was the only thought that was going through my mind while I frantically fumbled with the damned shirt to find my gloves. I pulled them out of the sleeves and slid them on, breathing a sigh of relief when the ugly thing I called an arm was out of sight again.

_What for? You can't make him unsee it._

That thought struck me like a fist that painfully collided with my stomach, and I winced and doubled over even though nobody had physically hit me.

_He'll probably throw me out._

Absentmindedly I threw on a loose t-shirt from one of the piles as realization hit me. I was beyond shocked when I realized _just how much_ I didn't want to go back to the way I had lived before Lavi. He had allowed me to stay with him and in the short time we were together I had thought that we could become great friends and I could finally look forward to a happier future, finally leave behind my life as a thief. And now? He's probably angry. He might feel betrayed. He'll rethink his offer of letting me stay with him. He'll think of me as disgusting. Hideous. A monster.

Still sitting on the ground, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. I had been insulted like that countless times – that was why I always wore gloves. There were just some things that were impossible for you to get used to, and despite everyone saying that you get a thick skin over time and it doesn't bother you as much anymore, for me that never happened. Deep down, it still hurt. And if Lavi was to insult me like that, I wasn't sure if I could bear it. Not after he had showed me kindness and I had allowed myself to try to put trust in him.

I leaned against the wall of the booth and sobbed quietly.

"...len? Allen!" He sounded worried. I must've drowned him out for a while.

But how could I face him now? "Go away!" _I know you want to._

"Allen, I'm coming in now."

Before that sentence had fully registered in my brain, the swinging door swung open once again (at this point I cursed clothing stores for not having changing booths with locks) and before I knew it a pair of arms wrapped around me. I opened my mouth to yell at him, but Lavi was faster and put a hand over my mouth to silence me.

"Mmph!" I made and tried to struggle.

"Shh..." he said, trying to soothe me, tightening his hold on me instead of releasing me. "Shh... Calm down, okay? Please don't yell at me. I'm not gonna leave."

I paused at that, confused. He wasn't leaving? But...

"If I take my hand away now, will you yell again?" he asked me, unsure, and I shook my head in reply. I heard him sigh in relief, his warm breath tickling where it hit my neck, and the hand on my mouth disappeared. He didn't let go of me though, wrapping his other, now free arm around me instead.

It felt nice. How long had it been since I was last embraced like that? It felt like... home. My eyes widened.

"Allen?" the redhead asked, calmly and quietly as if he didn't want to startle me with his voice. I smiled at his actions. "Would you turn around? I don't want to keep talking to your back." He loosened his grip as he said that, and I gulped before turning around, my gaze cast downwards. That loose thread on Lavi's jeans suddenly seemed very interesting.

The older teen's hands were placed on my shoulders now, and he gently asked, "Will you let me see your arm?"

My head shot up at his words and I stared at him with wide eyes for a second before I remembered that my face was probably tear-stained, so I looked down again immediately.

I stayed quiet for a moment before reluctantly holding out my left arm. My heart was beating loudly in my chest as I watched him carefully pulling off the glove before taking my left hand in his. With his other hand he gently trailed patterns across the blood red skin.

A strange, tingling feeling lingered where he had touched, though that was probably just because I wasn't used to my arm being touched like this, or so I told myself. He was acting as if it was beautiful, precious even. I didn't know what to make of that. Not once in my life had I experienced such a reaction to my arm.

It crossed my mind that he was just going to act like this before declaring that he was throwing me out and that I shouldn't be too sure of myself since I was a monster anyway, but I discarded the thought quickly, choosing to believe in Lavi's honesty.

I let him continue what he was doing, feeling awkward and unsure and not knowing what to say at all. Eventually he placed his other hand on top of my left hand so that he was holding it with both of his.

"I'm sorry," Lavi began, and my heart skipped a beat. He was sorry? What for? So was he throwing me out after all? "I got a bit carried away. It's just so fascinating! I've never seen anything like it." he exclaimed, for some reason sounding excited. "It looks so badass! Though it doesn't really suit such a cute little beansprout like you."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He wasn't disgusted? "You're not throwing me out?"

"Huh?" Now it was his turn to stare at me, speechless. "Why would I want to do that?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, aren't you disgusted at all? It's hideous, I'm a monster... who wants someone like that in their home?"

He laughed. "Who want's a homeless thief in their home?" he shot back. "I do," he added before I could respond. "Plus, you aren't hideous, and you're anything but a monster. Stop saying such negative things about you. So what it your arm is different? It doesn't change who you are, does it?"

I looked up at him with tears in my eyes, my bottom lip quivering from the effort it took not to cry.

"So you won't leave me like my parents did? Not like all the others?"

Lavi looked at me in shock. "Your... parents?"

I looked down, ashamed of myself. My parents hadn't wanted such a monster as a son, so they had left me behind.

Suddenly I felt a hand under my chin and allowed the slight pressure of the redheads fingers to tilt my head upwards.

Gray met green.

Lavi inched closer and looked at me earnestly, his green eye boring into my gray ones. "Allen, I don't know anything about what happened to you in the past, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, and certainly not here, but I promise you:_ I won't ever abandon you._ You hear that? I'll never leave you."

I looked at him, unbelievably relieved, grateful and happy, and my eyes watered once again. Lavi cupped my face in his hands and used his thumbs to gently wipe away the tears that threatened to fall, smiling fondly at me. He then placed a kiss on my forehead that made me blush bright crimson, but he didn't see my blush because he enveloped me in a warm hug that I returned wholeheartedly.

Eventually we let go of each other and he ruffled my hair affectionately. I returned the happy grin he flashed me and he said, "Come on then, let's pay for your stuff and go home."

He stood up and held out his hand to me. It was his left hand, and I chose to show him my trust by placing my left hand in his. The redhead pulled me up and startled me by raising my hand to his lips and placing a kiss on the back of my hand.

After a few seconds of standing there, dumbfounded and with a blush on my face, I slipped on my glove, changed into the black shirt Lavi had given to me the day before and then followed Lavi, who had already picked up the clothes we had decided to buy and left the changing booth. I hurried after him and caught up with him just as he reached Lenalee, who was standing close to the checkout counters with a few pieces of clothing in hand.

Lavi made a comment about a skirt she wanted to buy and received a whack in the head in reply that had him whining about how she had hit his panda-bump spot on.

As the three of us joked and laughed together, I couldn't help but think about how much brighter the future appeared after spending just two days with these people.

Maybe I had finally found a place that I could call home again.

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><p><em>. Chapter 10 FIN . <em>

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><p><em>AN: _Sooo, I hope you liked it! :) And don't forget to check out the OneShot in celebration of the 100th review, ne? I still can't believe it. 100 reviews! (actually already 111 by now o_O) I love you guys so much for all your support!  
>Oh, and for the next chapter, I've been thinking of focusing it on Lavi and Allen getting to know each other better by asking each other some questions, so here's a question for you: If you were Lavi, what kind of questions would you ask Allen? And if you were Allen, what kind of questions would you ask Lavi? I won't promise you to put in your questions because in the end it all depends on how the story flows, but your suggestions are always appreciated! :)<p>

See ya all next chapter! x3


	11. Question Time

_A/N: _Hey guys! Guess who's still alive? That's right, I didn't drop off the face of the earth yet even though some of you might've thought so... you guys have no idea how sorry I am for not updating for AGES... school, exams, tons of homework, tests, driving lessons, you name it, I had it robbing me off my scarce free time.  
>Anyway, as you can see, I do still exist, and thanks to the first week of my summer holidays I actually managed to write this, finally... and just in time before I leave town for a week in... eight hours. I should probably go to sleep or finish packing or both. but I didn't want you guys to have to wait ANOTHER week x'D so yeah, I know it's unbelievable, but <strong>HERE'S CHAPTER 11!<strong> xD

the nice cover picture by the way doesn't belong to me but to the awesome _**Hanashi o suru** _who kindly drew it for me when I mentioned to her that I'd have to find someone to draw one for me :) but if any of you are interested and bored enough to draw cover art for me (or any other art to my fanfiction for that matter), please do and I'll love you forever! I was considering changing the cover picture every now and then if more of you decided to draw one and eventually make a poll on which one the readers like best, but that's just a thought ~

other than that, like I said I'll be gone for a week starting tomorrow, so please don't be surprised if it takes me a while to reply to your reviews, cause people who have already reviewed once know that I always reply to my reviewers! I won't have internet where I'm staying but as soon as I'm back I'm going to reply to you all! :)

Now after this giant A/N, without further ado - enjoy Chapter 11 of _PIT_! x3

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 11 – Question Time<strong>_

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><p>"Would you like some hot chocolate?" I asked loud enough for the white-haired boy in the living room to hear me from the kitchen.<p>

I had just finished washing the dishes and putting away everything Allen and I had used for our late breakfast – it had taken me a while to convince the boy that he didn't have to help me, but I had managed to make him go back to the living room first.

"Yes please!" I heard him reply and promptly began preparing two mugs of the warm liquid.

It was cold outside today and even though it was only about noon, hot chocolate seemed like a great idea to me right now. That and snuggling into a blanket on a comfy couch in a warm living room.

We had been out shopping until the stores closed yesterday and I had helped Allen put away his new stuff in my closet in the bedroom, or more specifically in the half of the closet that I had hurriedly emptied by grabbing it's contents and stuffing them into the other half. It wasn't the best solution, but since I didn't really have a guest room, it would have to do for the time being.

Allen didn't seem to mind, on the contrary he seemed to be very uncomfortable about imposing on me. Which was understandable but also kind of illogical seeing as it was me who had offered him to stay with me in the first place.

With the two steaming mugs in my hands I made my way over to the living room where I found the white-haired teen sitting on the couch watching the news on a low volume with only mild interest, his legs and part of his stomach hidden under a large, warm blanket. So I wasn't the only one who thought that this day just screamed for hot chocolate and soft, warm blankets. I smiled at both the sight and the thought.

"Scoot over, will ya?" I said, still smiling, and Allen moved over to the left before pulling up the blanket to his right to allow me to slip under it. I grinned gratefully at him and handed him one of the mugs.

"Thank you," he said as I made myself comfortable now that I had one of my hands free, "it smells delicious!"

"You're welcome," I told him and we both took a sip of the warm liquid, sighing contentedly at the same time. I chuckled.

"So... what are we going to do on this _beautiful_ day?" I asked sarcastically with a glance out of the window and snorted when the weather decided to prove my point by accompanying my question with the nice sound of thunder.

Allen chuckled softly at my words and snuggled deeper into the soft cushions. "I'd say we do something that doesn't involve going outside?" he suggested, making it sound more like a question.

"Sounds good to me," I agreed. "So... what would you like to do? You can choose today," I told him, partly because I myself didn't have any idea what to suggest.

I watched as the white-haired boy stared down at the mug of hot chocolate in his lap, humming in thought. A minute later, he sighed in defeat.

"Sorry, I can't come up with anything right now... why don't you suggest something instead?" he asked and I concluded that he was probably more comfortable with letting me decide, even if he did have something in mind that he'd like to do.

But what exactly would be a good thing to suggest? I thought about that for a while. I was almost sure that the boy would probably agree to pretty much anything I suggested, regardless of if he honestly liked the idea or not. He was just too shy and polite to act otherwise, in my opinion.

But honestly, what did I even know about him? I knew next to nothing. So how on earth could I suggest something that he could like? For example, he definitely didn't have the chance to watch TV when he was still homeless, but would he like watching a movie or is he simply not interested in watching TV since he got by without that pretty much useless activity for who knows how long?

_Gaah, it makes me want to pull my awesome hair out!,_ I inwardly shouted, then blushed slightly when I noticed Allen's questioning look. I must've made a pretty stupid face. Oh well...

"Ne, beansprout?" I asked, grinning at the face he made when he heard the nickname. I paid no mind to it though and continued, "It's kind of hard to think of something fun to do when I have no idea whatsoever what you actually like, you know? You strike me as the person who'd just go along with whatever I suggest regardless of if they like it or not."

He winced slightly at that and didn't meet my eyes, a tiny hint of red on his cheeks. Ha, so I was right about that.

"In fact, we pretty much don't know anything about each other, which is kind of stupid considering the fact that we're going to live together from now on, ne?" I grinned at him. "So how about this: Let's take turns and ask each other questions! That way we can get to know each other better and kill some time! What do you say?"

Allen shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He smiled at me and I smiled back happily.

"Okay then," I said, still smiling, "Would you like to ask the first question or do you want me to begin?"

"You can start if you want," he told me, took a sip of his hot chocolate and leaned back into the cushions.

I thought about what to ask for a second, absentmindedly running a hand through my unruly hair as I did so. Better start with something simple, right?

"So... when's your birthday?" I asked after a moment. I couldn't see Allen's face from where I was sitting since my view was blocked by the cushions, but I was one second away from asking if he had fallen asleep when he replied.

"December 25," he said happily, but I couldn't help thinking that something was off.

I was probably just paranoid because he still was quite a mysterious person to me, I told myself and shrugged it off.

"On Christmas? How cool is that? My birthday's on August 10." I told him. "Anyway, it's your turn to ask a question now!"

"Ummm...," he made as he thought about something to ask about. Eventually he said, "Why does Komui have such a huge sister complex?"

I snickered at that. Komui, huh? So he wasn't going to ask about me just yet? Well, I guess it's just logical that he's interested in that, seeing as how the purple-haired man had reacted to him.

"Well, I know it's not exactly an apology for his behavior towards you yesterday, but their parents were robbed and murdered when the two were younger. Ever since then the two had to take care of themselves and Komui is very protective of his sister since she's the only family he has left..." I trailed off for a second, remembering the time just after I had come to this city with the old panda. "Then, about four years or so ago, some guy tried to molest Lenalee - and he probably would've succeeded if it hadn't been for Yuu."

"Huh?" Allen interrupted me, puzzled. "Me?"

I started for a second before bursting out laughing. "Oh, sorry. It was a guy named Yuu – Y-u-u, not y-o-u. He's Japanese. Anyway, Yuu apparently showed up just in time and scared the guy off or something like that. The point is, Komui never forgave himself for that incident and still blames himself for not protecting her. As you can imagine, his sister complex pretty much skyrocketed then and he's more than suspicious of pretty much any male in Lena-lady's life. Like I said before, I know that it's not an apology for his attitude, but it's an explanation at least. I'm certain that he is truly sorry though, and I hope you'll give him another chance. Besides his sister complex and his craziness, he's a good guy, really."

Allen sat up and placed the empty mug on the couch table before turning to look at me. "I'm not angry at him or anything," he said calmly, "I already suspected that he must have a good reason for acting this way. I can somewhat understand him, I guess..." He paused for a moment. "Well, it's your turn again," he said with a smile.

"Okay then, you said your birthday is on Christmas Day – that wasn't even two months ago. So, how old are you now?"

"I'm sixteen," he simply replied. Ah, so my first guess had been correct.

"What do you usually do on Sundays if you're alone?"

"Well... I usually sleep in, read a book and generally just laze around I guess... hmm... why the whole Post-It note thing?" I asked, honestly interested. How did you come up with such an idea?

Allen blushed. "I felt bad for stealing, okay? It's not as if I like taking stuff away from people who worked hard to be able to buy it...," he mumbled. Awwwh, how cute was that?

"Aww, you're such a nice person~" I half said half sang as I hugged him for a moment before leaning back again and watching the color on his face intensify. I chuckled. "Well then, it's your turn again." I smiled at him.

"Okay, why did you tell Komui I was gay?" Allen blurted out immediately.

My smile grew into a grin. "It was simply the easiest way to get him to leave you alone. I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable though.." I scratched my head, the grin turning slightly awkward.

"No, no, don't worry about it!" He waved his hands in front of me defensively. "Thanks, I guess," he added more quietly.

I smiled broadly at him and ruffled his hair. "You're welcome, little buddy!"

He made a face at me messing up his hair but gave me a small smile as soon as I stopped doing that.

"Does it make you uncomfortable that I'm gay?" I bluntly asked, "I mean, I suppose you already gathered that thanks to Komui's comment yesterday.."

"What? No, of course it doesn't. See, I don't like lying, and if what you told Komui yesterday to make him leave me alone had been a lie, I would've protested. I _really_ don't swing that way." He grinned at my dumbfounded expression, a light blush coloring his cheeks. "What?"

"Nothing..." I muttered under my breath. For some reason I wouldn't have expected that. Strange, considering the way his face keeps heating up when I enter his personal space. I inwardly chuckled at myself – now that I thought about it, it was actually kind of obvious; no straight guy would keep getting so flustered.

Then I remembered something and immediately became serious again. '_Oh, so_ that_'s why you took him in._'

I frowned. _Well thanks to Komui for making this more awkward than it already is..._

"Well, then I hope you didn't take Komui's comment seriously, because _that_ certainly isn't why I took you in." I explained, looking him in the eyes. My serious expression and whatever he saw in my eyes seemed to convince him, and he nodded at me, a smile ghosting around his lips.

"I believe you," he said.

I smiled at him, relieved, and he returned the smile wholeheartedly.

After a short silence, I asked, "So... where were we?"

Allen snapped out of his thoughts and frowned. "Umm, I think it was my turn to ask a question."

"Okay, shoot."

"Well... why _did_ you take me in, then?" He asked, the tone of his voice reminding me of someone hesitating to touch an expensive vase in fear of accidentally breaking it. I guessed he wasn't sure if he wanted to know that. I, on the other hand, wasn't even sure how to answer that.

"Err.. Well at first, I was really angry at you. I thought you were an old man, by the way, you can thank your hair for that. I was pretty pissed off that you robbed me multiple times, and well, the taunt with the bike was kinda mean too, actually." I watched him chuckle nervously, scratching his head. "Anyway, I was determined to catch you and, well, I don't know. Yell at you or something. Take you to the police, whatever. When I grabbed your arm in that alley and you spun around though, I saw that you were just a boy, and-"

"And you took pity on me?" he interrupted, his tone slightly bitter.

"No. No, not exactly. The thing is..." I said, unsure how to express myself. "I saw your eyes. You know how people say that eyes are the windows to one's soul? At that moment I really believed that. I can't explain it well, but..." I sighed. "Let's just say it was enough to quench my anger towards you and leave me thinking. Eventually I just came to the conclusion that if what I thought I saw in your eyes was the truth, I just couldn't leave you alone." _Because there was once a time where I hated my life, too, and without someone to pull me out of there I don't know what would've happened to me._

"I know that it's absurd to just randomly invite a stranger to live with me," I continued, "and I can't even properly explain why I did it, but I haven't found a reason to regret my decision yet and I'm confident that it will stay that way." I smiled at him, willing him to understand my admittedly shaky standpoint. How do you explain to someone why you did something when you don't even know the answer to that yourself?

The white-haired boy next to me seemed to accept my explanation though, and I began wondering why I was the only one talking so much in this conversation.

"Okay, my turn to ask a question again," I said. "If you don't mind me asking, for how long have you been living on the street?" I hoped that this wasn't a touchy subject for him, but Allen surprised me with answering immediately and straight to the point.

"About a year." he simply said. I wanted to continue asking more personal questions, but there were several reasons why I thought I shouldn't yet. Besides, it was his turn. I told him that and he asked the next question.

"Why haven't you asked about my past yet?"

I looked at his anxious expression and smiled softly. "Well, do you want me to? I didn't want to pry, I thought it was an uncomfortable topic for you. Besides, you haven't asked about mine, either," I explained, pointing at my eye-patch. For a moment, Allen looked as if he hadn't even considered that, then he smiled at me. "I see."

"Umm... will you let me see your arm again?" I asked him, not sure if he'd be okay with that. But if he was, I thought this might be a good way to earn his trust since apparently he had had some bad experiences involving his left arm. He was so terrified when I saw it that I was determined to show him that I didn't mind it in the slightest.

I saw a flicker of fear flash in his eyes before he reluctantly nodded and held out his left arm. I gently took his hand with my right and used my left hand to pull up the fabric of the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing, exposing the red skin underneath.

I shot a glance at his face and saw how anxious he looked, so I decided to act as if I didn't know he was staring and placed my hands on the rough skin of his arm. I let my fingers trail along his arm to his wrist gently, tracing unknown patterns as I took in the feeling of touching leathery, slightly scaly skin instead of the soft texture one would usually expect. It wasn't unpleasant though, and I couldn't understand why he'd have to be so scared of people seeing it. Of course an arm that looked like this was highly unusual, but it wasn't as if it mattered.

"Why?" said Allen, his voice a little raspy and shaky.

"Why what exactly, Allen?" I asked quietly, still stroking his arm with my fingers.

"Why are you different from the others? Why are you reacting to my arm like this?" He looked at me, eyes full of doubt. "There were only ever two people in my life who didn't care about my arm."

I met his unsure eyes with my astonished one. "Really? Then you don't seem to have had much luck with your acquaintances until now. Honestly, I bet Lenalee would react quite similar to how I did. And your arm really is nothing to be ashamed of, not at all. It's part of who you are and it doesn't make you hideous or a monster, if that's what you think." The determined look I gave him when I said that elicited a slightly crooked smile from him and I thought for a moment I saw his beautiful silvery-gray eyes water up a little.

Without thinking about it, I asked another question. "So have you been born with your arm like this?" I playfully poked the red skin and saw the corners of Allen's mouth twitch before he answered.  
>"Yeah, I was born with it. My parents apparently were very religious and thought I was the devil's spawn or something, so they abandoned me." The pained expression in his eyes betrayed his neutral and detached tone and I fought the urge to hug and comfort him – he didn't act unfazed for nothing, he probably didn't want to be comforted right now.<p>

He looked away then and his voice was perfectly calm when he spoke again, his tone curious this time. "Why aren't you living together with your guardian?"

I snorted. "With the old Panda? I already see him almost every day at work, he's way too violent to see him 24/7. Don't look at me like that," I added when I saw his shocked expression, "it's not like he's abusive... much..."  
>He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well I think it's just his way of showing affection. At least, I hope it is." I chuckled and he grinned at me. "He's kind of a withdrawn person and I think he doesn't enjoy my constant company very much, and I didn't want to be a burden on him so I moved out. Plus, this new freedom is a nice change." At that I leaned back into the soft cushions, stretching with a smile on my face.<p>

"Ne, Allen? Is that your natural hair color?" I asked after a moment of silence, just after I realized that it was my turn to ask a question again. I was trying to tiptoe around topics involving his past without directly asking about it so he didn't have to reveal anything if he didn't want to.

"Well, yes and no." was the reply, and I raised an eyebrow and sat back up again, looking at Allen's face. He looked as if he was trying to figure out how to explain himself, so I figured that if he was already thinking about an explanation, I might as well ask for one.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I originally had reddish brown hair, but it turned white from shock when..." he paused for a second, frowning, "um, actually, I don't really want to talk about that. Let's just say something happened before I became homeless that caused my hair to turn white and leave it at that, okay?" he looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Sure, don't worry about it, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I smiled reassuringly. "Okay, your turn again."

"Um, you don't have to answer if it's too personal, but why the eye-patch?"

I grinned half-heartedly. "When I was a little kid, my parents died in a car crash. I was in the car, too, on the back seat, and I got lucky." I pointed to my eye-patch. "Glass shard. Other than losing my eye I only had scratches and bruises, a few broken bones, but nothing too serious. I was the only one who survived that crash." I sighed. Back then they had called it a miracle, and I must've been the only one who would've liked it better if I had died, too. I had felt so abandoned back then...

I ran a hand through my hair and tried to clear my head. "Anyway, I was given the choice – either a glass eye or an eye-patch. I chose an eye-patch because it's just way cooler." At that I grinned broadly, causing Allen to erupt into laughter.

My grin turned into a soft smile as I watched him laugh, his voice clear and melodic. It made me happy to see that he was able to continue laughing like that regardless of what he had gone through so early in his life.

The white-haired boy next to me stopped laughing, noticed my smile and raised an eyebrow at me. "Why are you smiling like that?"

I snapped out of it. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind." He shook his head absentmindedly, frowning. "Your turn to ask a question."

I thought about it for a moment before asking, "So, if your parents abandoned you, who raised you?"

I watched as his expression turned sad and distant and regretted the question immediately. "Sorry, you don't have to answer if you-"

He interrupted me. "No, it's okay. Well, I grew up in an orphanage. At some point I was adopted by a man named Mana Walker. He was the first person that didn't either shun or condemn me because of my arm." I watched Allen as he talked, the way his eyes shone with unshed tears, adoration, nostalgia and love when he began talking about Mana, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the guy for it was simply impossible that Allen had just left him.

"Mana and I –" Allen never finished his sentence, for someone chose this exact moment to ring the doorbell.

Both of us looked up and the younger boy next to me shot me a questioning glance.

"I don't know who it could be, I'm not expecting anyone. I'll just go get the door, wait here." With that I rose from the comfy sofa, crossed the room in a few long, quick strides and hurried to the front door.

I opened the door to find, to my surprise, the landlord on my doorstep. With his unruly dark hair and his baggy, casual clothes he didn't look like someone who would own an apartment building at all, but I knew that he wasn't unqualified and I was glad that he wasn't stuck-up but actually a nice person to talk to.

"It's been a while, Mr. Morikawa. What can I do for you today?"

The man smiled at me sheepishly, scratching his head. "Well, you see, Mr. Bookman – You're kind of late with paying your rent for the month..."

My eyes widened at that – paying my rent had completely slipped my mind with all the stuff that had happened since Allen moved in.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry about that! I completely forgot, I'm such an airhead these days... Do you want me to give it to you right away or should I transfer the money to your bank account first thing tomorrow morning?"

He smiled at me, obviously relieved that it was just a mistake on my part and his problem was solved. "Either way is fine with me, but if you have the money here it would probably be easiest to just give it to me right now."

"Sure thing, just wait a moment, please," I said and turned around to go fetch the money I owed him. I moved past the ajar living room door and turned right, making my way to my bedroom where I had hidden away a certain amount of money. Seconds later I returned to the hallway with the money in hand, smiled at Mr. Morikawa and handed it to him.

"There you go, sir. I'm truly sorry for not paying sooner."

"Ah, don't worry about it. No harm done, right?" He smiled at me and I returned his smile.

"Thank you, sir" I glanced back towards the living room before turning to face my landlord again. "Well, if there isn't anything else..."  
>"Actually, there is," Mr. Morikawa replied to my surprise.<p>

I raised an eyebrow. "There is? What is it?"

"I have heard that you are currently not the only one residing in your apartment, is that correct?"

Wow, news sure traveled fast. I wondered who had told him that. But I didn't have time to think about that right now – I had to think of the best way to phrase my arguments now.

"That is correct, sir. The tenancy law states though that it is not necessary to inform the landlord of someone's stay as long as the person does not stay or intend to stay for longer than six weeks. I hope you do not think that I was planning on keeping my temporary roommate a secret from you, Mr. Morikawa – I merely had not been sure if my guest was going to stay here permanently, so I did not contact you about it before."

The landlord didn't look fully convinced, but there was a hint of a compliment in his voice as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, "You sure know your literature, Mr. Bookman. So I assume you now know if your guest would like to stay permanently?"

I nodded, smiling kindly. "Yes, sir. Allen would very much like to live in this apartment together with me, and I will take full responsibility of paying the rent without fail. Seeing as two people living here does not exceed the limit of people allowed to live in the apartment, there should not be any reason for you to be against it. So, would you grant permission for him to remain here?"

The landlord tapped his stubbly chin in thought. "What did you say was your guest's name?"

"Allen, sir. Allen Walker."

I watched as the landlord let his gaze wander, thinking about my words. Eventually, he nodded.

"Very well, I will allow it. I will send you the necessary documents for Mr. Walker to sign as soon as possible. Have a nice day, Mr. Bookman." And with that he turned on his heel and left.

I closed the door behind him and sighed. That went surprisingly well, actually. _I would've thought he'd at least want to meet Allen... Strange. _I shrugged to myself and went back to the living room to find Allen still sitting on the couch, though this time snuggled up into the blanket and with his arms around his legs. He looked as if he was shivering.

"What's with that posture, beansprout?" I asked.

No answer.

I frowned. Something was definitely wrong. "Allen? Are you okay?" I asked as I rounded the couch to look at him.

When I saw his face, I paused. He was staring straight ahead, his eyes wide and glazed over, his expression a mixture of shock, fear and sadness.

Immediately I grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him, first gently, then, when I didn't get a reaction out of him, more roughly. "Allen! Hey, Allen, snap out of it!"

I watched as he blinked and shook his head, fear still in his eyes. He looked up at me in half surprise, obviously confused.

"Are you okay?" I asked again, only this time he replied.

"Y-yeah..." he uttered, his voice raspy. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Sorry."

I raised an eyebrow, concerned. "You sure?" I sat down next to him on the sofa, taking his hand and squeezing it gently.

He flashed me a slightly pained smile. "I'm sure. I just... remembered something."

I could see that he was still shaking uncontrollably and didn't buy it. "Allen... don't just pretend you're fine when you're clearly not. I thought you hated lying."

His head snapped up and he looked at me with wide eyes, as if surprised that I saw through him even though it was more than easy to see that he was hurting for some reason, traumatized by something even. I didn't know what had triggered this reaction – maybe our conversation from before, after all I pretty much left him alone to think after he had started talking about bits of his past – but I was not going to ignore it just because he pretended to be fine.

So I just calmly held his gaze and watched his eyes slowly water up, tears threatening to spill. "Allen.. just because you don't want to explain it to me, that doesn't mean I can't comfort you."

My words seemed to have been the last straw, and the expression on Allen's face as the first overflowing tears began leaving wet trails on his cheeks almost broke my heart.

Wrapping my arms around him, I pulled him into a warm embrace and pressed his head against my chest, my other hand gently trailing circles on his back as he cried into my shirt.

"Shh...," I made, patting his head as he sobbed, not caring about the wetness I could feel seeping through my shirt. "Don't worry about it, just take your time to let it all out, sometimes you just need that to calm yourself."

I could feel his hand grabbing my shirt and curling into a fist at my gentle words as I held him, softly rocking us back and forth. We sat like that for a while until the boy in my arms became silent and his breathing calmed down.

I gently loosened my grip on him and leaned back a bit, which prompted him to do the same and rub his now red, slightly puffy eyes dry with his sleeves. He looked at me with gratitude in his eyes and smiled a real smile at me this time, a smile that was so breathtaking that it left me stunned for a moment. How could someone who had just cried their eyes out suddenly shine so brightly? "Thank you, Lavi."

I snapped out of my thoughts and stood up, ruffling through his white locks affectionately. "You're welcome, buddy." I flashed him a grin.

"Now, would you like some more hot chocolate?" That said, I grabbed our mugs from the coffee table and made my way to the kitchen.

"Sure!" he called after me.

And I smiled.

* * *

><p><em>. Chapter 11 FIN .<em>

* * *

><p><em>AN: _For anyone who's confused about that tenancy law stuff, that's just how (I think o.O) it works in my country, but it was kinda hard to get info on that cause, well, you know how all of this law stuff is phrased, right? yeah, nuff said. and if it doesn't work like that, I don't really care because I don't know any better, don't blame me please, until now I've never had to deal with tenancy law so I really have no idea if I understood everything correctly Q_Q even if I didn't, please just pretend it works that way? thanks x'D

I love you all, by the way, even if you attack me with pitchforks now that you know that I didn't die but simply didn't update for two friggin months! O_O

bye! xxxx

~ bakaxusagi


	12. you guessed it - HIATUS

Hey everyone~ remember me? ^^°

For the few of you who were for some reason simply happy to see that I updated, I'm sorry to have to tell you that this, obviously, isn't the next chapter. For the rest of you, go get those pitchforks back that you conveniently hid under your beds when this popped up in your inboxes. you might need them ^^°

I'm terribly sorry for pretty much disappearing for the past few months, guys... the thing is, the next chapter is 80% done (and has been that way for what feels like ages) but I just can't seem to continue right now. I've tried. I've been busy with school and stuff and life keeps getting in the way, and if I do find some free time I have tons of things to do and I just can't find the motivation to write anymore.

I have a part-time job now, school requires more work than ever since I'm in my last year, I need to find out what I want to do after school, and my private life is demanding attention too... not that I haven't been doing fun things in between like actually meeting the lovely **xrowa-chanx** in person while I was in London on a school trip (she's such an amazing writer! if you haven't done that yet, go read her stories! They're definitely worth it, and she's such a sweetie, too! x3 meeting her was awesome and I hope I'll be able to visit her again someday~ :3 ) or, during holidays, meeting up with friends of mine who live a bit further away from me so I don't get to see them often... I currently don't have school because we have two weeks of holidays, but I was wrong to think that having more free time would get me back into writing, apparently – I have something planned for most days and that doesn't even include studying yet... *sighs*

So, I guess you could say I'm suffering from an incredibly terrible case of writer's block. I'm positive that this will change at some point but currently that's just how it is. I miss you guys and I would force myself to write and update if I thought it would help, but I know that the results would be horrible and I would feel even worse for wasting your time with shitty updates.

So once again I apologize for not updating in so long even though I promised not to take this long again – but I'm sure you all agree that you'd rather have well-written updates than fast and crappy ones. This story will be continued at one point, hopefully, but for now I can't tell you how fast or frequently it'll be updated in the future. I'll do my best, but I have to take my time.

I want to thank all of you for reading this fanfic so far, for reviewing and giving feedback, for encouraging me to write and for being so nice and understanding. I'm really grateful and I'd love to see you again when this story is finally being updated again.

lots of love,

~bakaxusagi


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